
Class i-.T ! ' 

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Copigtit N° 



COHSMGHT DEPOSIT. 




ROSS C. PORTER 



The Kingdom of God 
Established, Invaded and 
Restored from Invasion 

BY 

ROSS C. PORTER 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, iqiq, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved 



oft 



otr lb!5)!9 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



©CI.A536079 



PREFACE 

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of 
the themes presented in this volume. The work reviews 
the origin of the kingdom of God through the marvelous 
work of creation, the inception of evil, the tragic invasion 
by which Satan and his angels sought to overthrow the 
kingdom, and the infinite love of God in seeking to save 
rebellious subjects while restoring His kingdom from in- 
vasion. 

It presents the law of love as the foundation of God's 
government, and Satan's attempt to pervert it that he 
might lead souls through disloyalty into the broad way 
of sin and death. 

It portrays Christ's life and death for man, — the 
climax of the love of God, — as man's voluntary substitute, 
that the death penalty might be met, the demand of jus- 
tice satisfied, eternal life given to man, and sin and 
death banished from the universe forever. 

It traces man from his creation to his fall, thence 
through the conflict of the ages. It concludes with the 
triumph of Christ and His followers, the utter destruc- 
tion of Satan and all his agencies, the kingdom of God 
restored from invasion, and its peace and unity eternally 
assured. 

In offering to the public a work touching upon so many 
phases of the kingdom of God, the writer's purpose has 
been to avoid controversy, to present candidly and faith- 
fully the great truths relating to this all-important theme 
as revealed in the word and works of God, associated 
with such scientific and historical data as limited space 
would admit. 



4 Preface 

The author wishes to gratefully acknowledge the valu- 
able assistance of his beloved wife, and other esteemed 
associates, together with the authors liberally quoted, who 
have contributed much toward making the work a sym- 
posium upon the theme considered, instead of merely his 
own individual thoughts. 

May the Lord give the reader an abundant entrance 
into the everlasting kingdom of God, is the prayer of — 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 

PART I. THE KINGDOM OF GOD ESTABLISHED 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Origin of the Kingdom 9 

II The Material Universe Created and Upheld 

by God's Word 18 

III Creation or Evolution 22 

IV Creation and Science ........ 27 

PART II. THE BIBLE A TEXT BOOK OF THE KINGDOM 

V The Bible the Word of God 35 

VI Fulfilled Prophecy an Evidence of Divine 

Inspiration 46 

VII The Bible and Modern Criticism 52 

PART III. THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM 

VIII Physical Laws of the Kingdom 60 

IX Moral Laws of the Kingdom 65 

X Consequences Inherent in Law ...... 71 

XI Laws Infallible and Eternal in Character . 76 

PART IV. A CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW THE KINGDOM 
THE NATURE AND DESTINY OF REBELS 

XII Satan's Rebellion and its Results .... 80 

XIII Man's Apostasy and its Results 85 

XIV Man's Mortality 90 

XV The Sinner's Destiny 105 

5 



6 Contents 

PART V. GOD'S PLAN FOR SAVING THE LOST 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVI Eternal Life Offered in Christ 113 

XVII Liberty a Birthright 126 

XVIII Restoration Conditioned upon a New Birth . 137 

XIX A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary . . - . . . 146 

XX Christ the Restorer 156 

PART VI. THE TWO COVENANT KINGDOMS 
THEIR SANCTUARIES, CONFLICTS AND TRIUMPHS 

XXI The Old Covenant Kingdom the Kingdom of 

Glory 172 

XXII The New Covenant Kingdom of Grace Restores 

Men to the Kingdom of Glory . . . . 183 

PART VII. CONFLICTS IN THE KINGDOM 

XXIII Warfare between Good and Evil Angels . . 196 

XXIV Temperance and its Reward 203 

XXV Miracles True and False 212 

PART VIII. SIGNS OF THE END OF THE CONFLICT 

XXVI Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent . . 224 
XXVII Increased Light in the Time of the End . . 235 

PART IX. THE LAST STRUGGLES BETWEEN RIGHT 

AND WRONG 
XXVIII The Judgment Announced 242 

XXIX The Seven Last Plagues Fall upon the Dis- 
loyal 251 

XXX Satan Bound a Thousand Years 262 

PART X. UNIVERSAL LOYALTY RESTORED 

XXXI The Coronation 272 

XXXII The Marriage Supper 278 

XXXIII The Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Eternally 

Restored 284 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

ESTABLISHED, INVADED AND 
RESTORED FROM INVASION 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

PART I 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD ESTABLISHED 

CHAPTER I 

The Origin of the Kingdom 

T N a study of "the kingdom of God," the well-informed 
*• will welcome the aid of true science and true religion 
instead of assumptions. At the very outset, the candid 
inquirer after truth must consider certain great funda- 
mental facts. The following naturally form the basis 
of research in the study of this the greatest of all ques- 
tions : 

It is a fact that the universe exists. It is a fact that 
man exists. It is a fact that he is the masterpiece of 
workmanship upon this marvelous planet. It is a fact 
that the universe, and all that is in it, gives evidence of 
design in every part of its mechanism. It is a fact that 
design universally proclaims a designer. It is a fact 
that modern science has failed to find that nature is 
such a designer as this universe proclaims. Science can 
give no reliable explanation of man's origin and destiny. 
Since "we can understand a phenomenon rightly only 
when we accurately understand its antecedents and gene- 
sis," a divine revelation that is simple and clear in its 



16 The Kingdom of God 

statements is necessary to a correct knowledge of crea- 
tion. There is but one book that contain^ such a reve- 
lation from the Creator as both science and religion 
demand. That book is the Bible. In the words of 
Carlyle, it is "a noble book! All men's book! It is 
our first statement of the never-ending problem of man's 
destiny, and God's way with men on earth." 

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED 

The first chapter of the Bible opens with the simple 
and sublime statement, "In the beginning God created 
the heaven and the earth." In these ten words is re- 
vealed the origin of the territory of God's kingdom. 
The record begins with the Godhead alone, prepared to 
enter upon the establishment of a kingdom, with all ele- 
ments of a kingdom wanting. From that condition God 
designed and developed a kingdom which embraces the 
entire universe. On the fact that "in six days the Lord 
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them 
is," His sovereign law bases His right to rule as King. 
Ex. 20:11. In this statement proclaimed by Himself, 
we have the history of the origin of the elements for 
the formation of the kingdom. The Kingship cannot be 
questioned. 

He who by His wisdom could design a kingdom of 
such magnitude where no kingdom was or ever had 
been, He who could by His almighty power create every 
needful element for the formation of the kingdom on 
such a magnificent and bourtdless scale, was the only one 
who could operate the affairs of such a kingdom after 
it was established. Its territory was the myriad plan- 
etary systems of the universe, and its subjects were all the 
created intelligences in heaven and earth. 

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CREATOR 

That the marvelous universe, which stretches far be- 
yond the reach of the most powerful telescope, camera, 



The Origin of the Kingdom II 

or conception of man, was created according to a design, 
must be conceded by all candid thinkers. The telescope 
was conceived in the mind of the inventor before it was 
developed; likewise the phonograph and wireless teleg- 
raphy. The artist places upon the canvas the image 
first pictured in his own mind. Longdale once asked 
a sculptor, as he stood by a block of granite, what he 
was going to do with it. The sculptor replied, "There 
is a beautiful angel in it." There may be seen in the 
Sistine Chapel in Rome the result of that sculptor's 
conception. So God, as the great Architect of the uni- 
verse, created all things according to a plan first clearly 
conceived and designed by His infinite wisdom. 

In no other direction is there such evidence of wisdom 
displayed in design as in the work of creation. Mr. 
Mitchel, widely known as one of the fathers of modern 
astronomy, says: "If all this mighty system was organized 
by chance, how happens it that the angular motions of 
the perihelia of the planetary orbits are ever progressive, 
while the angular motions of the planes of the orbits are 
vibrating? Design, positive and conspicuous, is written 
all over the systems, in characters from which there is 
no escape." — "The Order of Heaven' 3 lecture 6, page 

117. 

The psalmist David confirms this view: "Thine eyes 
did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy 
book all my members were written, which in continuance 
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." 
Ps. 139:16. In the face of such evidence, no greater 
follv could be displayed than for one to say in his heart, 
"There is no God." 

THE CHARACTER 0,F THE KING 

In the kingdom of God, the character of the King is 
the standard for the character of His subjects. It is 
written: "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1 :i6. His 
holiness is the strength of His justice. "God sitteth 



12 The Kingdom of God 

upon the throne of His holiness." Ps. 47:8. "God is 
love." i John 4:16. But that love is not mere senti- 
ment. It is manifested primarily in justice and judg- 
ment, which are the foundation of His throne. Ps. 89: 
14. (See Revised Version.) It is manifest in His mercy 
that "endureth forever." The whole strength of His 
kingdom is therefore pledged to support the upright sub- 
ject, and "none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, 
What doest Thou?" when He judges. Dan. 4:35. 

God uses the relationship of parent and child to illus- 
trate His character. "Like as a father pitieth his chil- 
dren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." Ps. 103 : 
13. "Can a mother forget her sucking child? . . . yea, 
they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I 
have graven thee upon the palms of My hands ; thy walls 
are continually before Me." Isa. 49:15, 16. 

The father's pity and the mother's compassion here 
illustrate the character of God. It is the same spirit 
that welcomed the returning prodigal son. It is the 
spirit of our Father's kingdom. "He is kind unto the 
unthankful." Luke 6:35. Without this spirit of kind- 
ness, one cannot become a child of the kingdom of God. 

This spirit of kindness originally inborn in all God's 
created beings, survived the fall, and has been battling 
for the right during six thousand years of apostasy. Not 
only in the human family, but in the lower animals also, 
this law of kindness is still traceable. Did you ever 
watch the little bird and the barnyard hen building their 
nests? Why do they build them? Whence came the 
instinct which teaches them to sit upon the eggs during 
the long, sultry days of incubation? What chains them 
to their nests when their nature delights in freedom and 
flight? What ties them to their brood, and causes them 
to search for food, which they refuse to eat until their 
helpless little ones are fed? Science answers, "It is the 
law of their nature." But the Bible declares that God 
is the author of nature and her laws. 



The Origin of the Kingdom 1 3 

To man, the climax of God's creation in this world, we 
turn for the highest examples of this law of kindness as 
still observable in a world of sin. An infant but a 
few days old is soothed to sleep by sounds of affection 
and kindness, while it is terrified by harsh words. In 
its innocence, the law of kindness is deeply written in 
its heart. 

SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM 

Angels were created to occupy heaven. "An innumer- 
able company" are still loyal to the government of God. 
Ezek. 28:15; Eph. 3:14, 15; Heb. 12:22. There were 
"seraphim" and "cherubim," and all were organized in 
the perfection of order that characterized the divine^ 
harmony of God's kingdom. They having been created" 
sinless and in the perfection of health and beauty, an 
eternal inheritance was provided for them. 

Man, made a little lower than the angels, was origi- 
nally designed to live eternally upon the newly created 
earth. Isa. 45:18; Gen. 2:8. In his sinless state, he 
was not subject to death; and as he had access to the tre£ 
of life in his Paradise home, an endless life was possible. 
With the kingdom thus established, there was not a 
place in the universe where death claimed a victim. 
Not a sigh spoke of broken promises. Not a heart 
throbbed under the burden of disappointed hopes. On 
this earth, man, in his perfection, was all that woman's 
heart could desire. In his companionship she could trace 
no shadow of insincerity, and she need not shrink from 
him in fear. Woman, pure and true, was the joy of 
man, a fit companion to share his labors and his pleasures. 
Such was the happy Eden home of our first parents, and 
such were the joys of God's eternal kingdom. 



There is strong evidence of God's fatherhood in the 
fact that the world over, there is inborn in man an 



14 The Kingdom of God 

inclination to worship a creator. True worshipers have 
always worshiped God in spirit and in truth. Millions 
in all parts of the world who have fallen into sin- have 
still continued some form of worship. They have thus 
revealed a divinely implanted inclination to worship God. 
This relationship was taught by Christ to His disciples 
in the prayer : "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed 
be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done 
in earth, as it is in heaven." Matt. 6 19, 10. 

STABILITY OF THE KINGDOM 

A proper conception of the kingdom reveals its sta- 
bility, God's glory and power. "They shall speak of 
the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to 
make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the 
glorious majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth 
throughout all generations." Ps. 145:11-13. Since 
"whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever," we may 
rest assured that when He established His kingdom "in 
the beginning," He designed to provide for His subjects 
a home that would be everlasting. 

AN ASTRONOMICAL VIEW 

Mr. Mitchel very graphically presents the grandeur, 
character and stability of the kingdom of God from the 
astronomer's viewpoint : 

"If there can be anything which can lead the mind up 
to the omnipotent Ruler of the universe, and give to it 
an approximate knowledge of His incomprehensible at- 
tributes, it is to be found in the beauty and grandeur 
of His works. 

"If you would know His glory, examine the intermin- 
able range of suns and systems which crowd the Milky 
Way; multiply the hundred millions of stars which 



The Origin of the Kingdom l$ 

belong to our own 'island universe' by the thousands of 
these astral systems that exist in space within the range 
of human vision, and then you may form some idea of 
the infinitude of His kingdom; for, lo, these are but a 
part of His ways. Examine the scale on which the uni- 
verse is built. Comprehend, if you can, the vast dimen- 
sions of our sun. Stretch onward through His systems, 
from planet to planet, and circumscribe the whole within 
the immense circumference of Neptune's orbit. This is 
but a single unit of the myriad of similar systems. 

"Take the wings of light, and flash with impetuous 
speed, day and night,' month and year, till youth shall 
wear away, and middle age is gone, and the extreme 
limit of human life has been attained. Count every 
pulse, and at each, speed on your way a hundred thou- 
sand miles, and when a hundred years have rolled by, 
look out, and behold the thronging millions of blazing 
suns that are still around you, each separate from the 
other by such a distance that in this journey of a cen- 
tury you have only left half a score behind you. 

"Would you gather some knowledge of the omnipo- 
tence of God? Weigh the earth on which we dwell, 
then count the millions of its inhabitants that have come 
and gone for the last six thousand years. Unite their 
strength into one arm, and test its power in an effort to 
move this earth. It could not stir it a single foot in a 
thousand years; and yet under the omnipotent hand of 
God, not a single minute passes that it does not fly for 
more than a thousand miles. But this is a mere atom, 
the most insignificant point among His innumerable 
worlds. At His bidding, every planet and satellite, the 
comet, and the sun itself, fly onward in their appointed 
courses. His single arm guides the millions of sweeping 
suns, and around His throne circle the great constellations 
of unnumbered universes. 

"Would you comprehend the omniscience of God? 
Remember the highest pinnacle of knowledge reached by 



1 6 The Kingdom of God 

the whole human race, by the combined efforts of its 
brightest intellects, has enabled the astronomer to com- 
pute approximately the perturbations of the planetary 
worlds. He has predicted roughly the return of half a 
score of comets. But God has computed the mutual 
perturbations of millions of suns, and planets and comets 
and worlds without number, through the ages that are 
passed and through the ages that are to come, not ap- 
proximately, but with perfect and absolute precision. 
The universe is in motion, system rising above system, 
cluster above cluster, ... all majestically sweeping 
around under the providences of God, who alone knows 
the end from the beginning, and before whose glory 
and power all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or 
on earth, should bow with humility and awe. 

"Would you gain some idea of the wisdom of God? 
Look to the admirable adjustments of the magnificent 
retinue of planets and satellites which sweep around the 
sun. Every globe has been weighed and poised, every 
orbit has been measured and bent to its beautiful form. 
All is changing; but the laws fixed by the wisdom of 
God, though they permit of the rocking to and fro of 
the systems, never introduce disorder, or lead to destruc- 
tion. All is perfect and harmonious; and the music of 
the spheres that burn and roll around the sun is echoed 
by that of ten millions of moving worlds that sing and 
shine around the bright suns that reign above. 

"If overwhelmed with the grandeur and majesty of 
the universe of God, we are led to exclaim with the 
Hebrew poet king, 'When I consider Thy heavens, the 
work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou 
hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of 
him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?' If 
fearful that the eye of God may overlook us in the 
immensity of His kingdom, we have only to call to mind 
that other passage: 'Yet Thou hast made him a little 
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory 



The Origin of the Kingdom 17 

and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over 
the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under 
his feet.' Such are the teachings of His word, and such 
are the lessons of the works of God." — "The Planetary 
and Stellar Worlds" pages 250-252. 

"So far, then, as the organization of the great plane- 
tary system is concerned, we do not find within itself the 
elements of its own destruction. . . . Are we to believe 
that the divine Architect constructed this admirably ad- 
justed system to wear out and to fall in ruins, even before 
one single revolution of its complex scheme of wheels 
had been performed? — No. I see the mighty orbits of 
the planets slowly rocking to and fro, their figures ex- 
panding and contracting, their axes revolving in their vast 
periods; but stability is there. Every change shall wear 
away; and after sweeping through the grand cycle of 
cycles, the whole system shall return to its primitive 
condition of perfection and beauty." — Idem. 

No wonder that the psalmist, overwhelmed with the 
contemplation of the magnitude and majesty of the uni- 
versal kingdom of God, should exclaim: "How manifold 
are Thy works? in wisdom hast Thou made them all." 
Ps. 104:24. "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord 
from the heavens: praise Him in the heights. Praise ye 
Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts. 
Praise ye Him, sun and moon : praise Him, all ye stars of 
light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters 
that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of 
the Lord : for He commanded, and they were created. 
He hath also stablished them forever and ever: He hath 
made a decree which shall not pass." Ps. 148:1-6. 



CHAPTER II 

The Material Universe Created and Upheld by 
God's Word 

TT is impossible for the human mind to understand 
A fully the creative power and wisdom of God. The 
secret of ancient Israel's failure lay in their tendency to 
limit the Holy One of Israel. This age is confronted 
with a like danger. "For My thoughts are not your 
thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the 
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts 
than your thoughts." Isa. 55 :8, 9. 

After reviewing the wonderful structure of the human 
frame, David expressed his view of the origin of man in 
the sublime declaration: "I will praise Thee; for I am 
fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy 
works; and that my soul knowth right well." Ps. 139: 
14. David declares that creation is God's act. He did 
not reach this conclusion by human philosophy alone. 
He admits that it is beyond the power of human reason- 
ing to fathom the attributes of God. "Such knowledge 
is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto 
it." Ps. 139:6. Nevertheless, by divine revelation, he 
tapped the fountain of infinite wisdom at its source, and 
learned there the secret of creation. He did not merely 
philosophize upon it, or draw conclusions from assumed 
premises. He proclaimed it as revealed: 

"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; 
and all the host of them by the breath of His Mouth. . . . 
He spake, and it was done ; He commanded, and it stood 

18 



The Material Universe Created and Upheld 19 

fast." Ps. 33:6, 9. This is God's own revelation of 
how He performed the work of creation ; for, says David, 
"The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was 
in my tongue." 2 Sam. 23 :2. 

By that word, worlds and suns and myriads of solar 
systems came into being and took their places in regular 
order in God's great universe to proclaim His wisdom 
and power. Into what insignificance all other theories 
of origin sink in comparison with the divinely revealed 
fact that God created by His word! 

God the Father chose to perform the work of crea- 
tion through His Son. "For by Him (Christ) were all 
things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, 
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or domin- 
ions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created 
by Him, and for Him." Col. 1:16. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word w T as God. The same was in 
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him ; 
and without Him was not anything made that was made. 
In Him was life." John 4:1-4. Christ, the living 
Word, was, therefore, the One by whose word all things 
were made. 

The reason why it seems impossible to us that worlds 
are created by God's word, is, that we undertake to 
measure God's wisdom by our ignorance, His infinity 
by our finite limitations, His almighty power by our hu- 
man weakness. It should be remembered that the super- 
natural, as well as the natural, is God's sphere of action. 

god's crowning work 

God's crowning work for this world, in the closing of 
that wonderful work of Gen. 1, is thus stated: 

"And God said j Let Us make man in Our image, 
after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 



20 The Kingdom of God 

the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth." Years of 
scientific research have clustered around this wonderful 
problem of the origin of man. Musty volumes from the 
archives of ancient philosophers have been unearthed, and 
hieroglyphics on ancient tombs have been deciphered, in 
a vain search after information as to man's origin. But 
one word from the archives of the Creator "frustrateth 
the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, . . . 
turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge 
foolish." Isa. 44:25. That word says: "So God cre- 
ated man in His own image, in the image of God created 
He him; male and female created He them." And man 
is here in the image of God, male and female, as He 
made them, though marred by sin. The record provides 
for no primal sea-mud germ, no wriggling snail, no sea- 
pen, and no ape, as progenitors of man. The Son of 
God spoke the creative word, and man, "the son of God" 
(Luke 3:38), stood forth full-grown, named all living 
things, took to him a wife before the sixth day's sun 
went down, and God's creative work was done. Gen. 
2:18-25; 1:31. 

But man had yet to learn the bill of fare best suited 
to his health and needs. God left nothing incomplete. 
"And God said }l Behold, I have given you every herb 
bearing seed, which is upon the' face of all the earth, and 
every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding 
seed ; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. 1 :2cj. 

Thus man was made from the beginning a rational be- 
ing, with ability to think and choose. 

It should be noted that the days of that week of Gen- 
esis were day and night, the same as ours, the evening, 
or dark part, coming first. Gen. 1 15. With the going 
down of the sun on the sixth creative day, the darkness of 
the evening of the seventh day began to steal over the 
earth. God's creative work ended, and His creative rest 
began. God's rest created the Sabbath day for man. 



The Material Universe Created and Upheld 21 

Gen. 2:1-3. By this act of rest, the Sabbath and the 
week were born. It was not Adam's rest, but God's, 
that made the Sabbath day. And the Creator who 
worked and rested in the creative act was God the Son. 
With what feelings of reverence and devotion one 
reviews the mighty work of God, accomplished during 
that short week ! Poor, finite man might combine all 
theories known to the wisest masters of this enlightened 
age, and he could not in a million years reproduce a 
single creative act of that first eventful week. Behold- 
ing the majesty, wisdom, power, and love of God as 
displayed in creation, who does not feel inclined to draw 
near and join the band of angelic worshipers who pros- 
trate themselves with deepest reverence before their 
Creator's throne, and cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord 
of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." 

"I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountain rise, 
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies. 
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day. 
The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey. 

I sing the goodness of the Lord, that filled the earth with food. 
He formed the creatures with His word, and then pronounced 

them good. 
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed where'er I turn my eye, 
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky! 

There's not a plant or flower below but makes Thy glories 

known ; 
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne. 
Creatures that borrow life from Thee, are subject to Thy care. 
There's not a place where we can flee, but God is present there." 



CHAPTER III 

Creation or Evolution 

'TpHE hypothesis of evolution, which has changed more 
A or less throughout the years, is the human substitute 
for direct creation as revealed in the inspired record of 
the first chapter of Genesis. The evolutionary theory is 
stated thus by Henry Ward Beecher, from Prof. J. D. 
Dana : 

"The theory of evolution teaches that the creation of 
this earth was not accomplished in six days of twenty-four 
hours; that the divine method occupied ages and ages of 
immense duration; that nothing, of all the treasures of 
the globe as they now stand, was created at first in its 
present perfectness; that everything has grown through 
the lapse of ages into its present condition ; that the whole 
earth, with the development in it, was, as it were, an es:?, 
a germ, a seed; that the forests, the fields, the shru! s, 
the vineyards, all grasses and flowers, all insects, fishes 
and birds, all mammals of every gradation, have had a 
long history, and that they have come to the position in 
which they now stand, through ages and ages of gradual 
change and unfolding; also that the earth itself went 
through a period of long preparation, passing from ether 
by condensation to a visible cloud form with increasing 
solidity, to such a condition as now prevails in the sun; 
that it condensed and became solid; that cold congealed 
its vapor; that by chemical action and by mechanical 
grinding of its surface by ice, a soil was prepared fit 
for vegetation, long before it was fit for animal life; 
that plants simple and coarse came first, and developed 

22 



Creation or Evolution 23 

through all stages of complexity to the present conditions 
of the vegetable kingdom; that aquatic, invertebrate ani- 
mals were the earliest of animals, according to the testi- 
mony of fossils in the earth. Fishes came next in order, 
then amphibians, then reptiles. 'All these tribes were 
represented by species before the earliest of the mammals 
appeared. The existence of birds before the first mammal 
is not proved, though believed by some paleontologists upon 
probable evidence. The early mammals were marsupial, 
like the opossum and the kangaroo, and lived in the same 
era called by Agassiz the reptilian period. True mam- 
mals came into geologic history in the Tertiary era. 
Very long after the appearance of the first bird came 
man, the last and grandest of the series, whether in the 
Tertiary period or immediately sequent, it is doubtful. 
It is not established whether his bones or relics occur 
as far back as the Tertiary era.' 

"This is a very brief statement, not my own, but that 
of Professor Dana, of renown. No man is more trusted, 
more careful, more cautious than he, and this brief his- 
tory of the unfolding series I have taken bodily from 
his writings." — "Evolution and Religion! 1 by Henry 
Ward Beecher, pages 49, 50. 

By some of these teachers we learn creation without 
a Creator. Others represent . evolution as being under 
the moulding guidance of an omnipotent hand. 

It must be admitted that when science breaks from 
the Bible account of creation, and introduces a theory 
which is to be accepted, not only by the scientific world, 
but by eminent Christian men, and is to be taught the 
students in all leading academies, colleges and universi- 
ties, necessitating the reconstruction of Christian theology, 
it should present a substantial demonstration of facts in 
support of its claims for the origin of life and the ele- 
ments of the material universe. To say that all life 
sprang from a "seed" or "germ" does not answer the 
question of the origin of life. It merely removes the 



24 The Kingdom of God 

question to the origin of the germ. How did the first 
germ originate? Mr. Darwin's "Origin of Species" does 
not pretend to account for the origin of life. He con- 
tents himself with assuming origin, rather than proving 
it. Huxley began life history with protoplasm, but this 
does not account for the origin of protoplasm. Tyndall, 
one of the greatest of evolutionists, admits that evolu- 
tion "does not solve — it does not attempt to solve — the 
ultimate mystery of the universe. It leaves in fact that 
mystery untouched ; for granting the nebula and its poten- 
tial life, the question whence they came would still re- 
main to baffle and bewilder us. At bottom, the hypothe- 
sis does nothing more than transport the conception of 
life's origin to an indefinitely distant past." — "Fragments 
of Science" page 133. 

Thus according to the statements of its greatest lead- 
ers, evolution avoids the miracle of creation by admit- 
ting that science does not know how to account for the 
origin of life or of the material universe without a 
Creator. God explains the origin of both matter and 
life. Evolution relegates that question to the distant 
past and leaves it unexplained. Evolution is founded on 
assumption. 

CREATION ONLY BY A CREATOR 

Did the world create itself, or did it have a Creator? 
Either God created the heaven and the earth, or the 
Bible is absolutely unreliable in its first statement. 

The first law of mechanics is that "to every action 
there is an equal and opposite reaction." Machinery can 
never, therefore, create power. For this reason, all 
human attempts at perpetual motion are a failure; but 
in the operation of the machinery of the material uni- 
verse, there is an illustration of perpetual motion. This 
demonstrates that a power outside of itself is balancing, 
guiding, and moving every part of the machinery of the 



Creation or Evolution 25 

universe in its onward course continually. No machine 
can create itself or lift itself. This can only be done 
by the application of some power from without. Since 
matter cannot originate itself, and machinery cannot run 
without applied power, what logic can show that such 
things ever happened? 

"No biological generalization rests on a wider series 
of observations, or has been subjected to a more critical 
scrutiny, than that every living organism has come into 
existence from a living portion or portions of a preexisting 
organism." — P. C. Mitchell, in "Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica" Vol. 3, page 952, Cambridge University Edition. 

Hugo de Vries closes his recent book, "Species and 
Varieties," pages 825, 826, with the statement that 
"natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest, 
but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest." 

For science to assume the origin of life without an 
originator, and give no proof, is to admit defeat at the 
outset. Life from life is the universal law of natural 
history. 

The most authoritative writers admit that degenera- 
tion is the tendency in the natural world. Where is 
the evidence of "Spontaneous generation"? A striking 
characteristic of the science of evolution is that whenever 
it reaches the point where evidence should be supplied to 
demonstrate its hypothesis, that evidence is wanting. 
There are no scientific facts to support its claim. "The 
attempt to find the transition from animal to man has 
ended in a total failure. The missing link has not been 
found, and will not be. Man is not descended from an 
ape. It has been proved beyond a doubt that during the 
past five thousand years, there has been no noticeable 
change in mankind." — Virchow, in an address delivered 
in Vienna, 1902. 

Agassiz, well known as one of the greatest of scien- 
tists, is reported in the Presbyterian of December 7, 1872, 
as thus expressing his contempt for the unscientific theo- 



26 The Kingdom of God 

ries of evolution, in a paper read before the Academy of 
Science : 

"As I grow older in the ranks of science, I feel more 
and more the danger of stretching inferences from a few 
observations to a wide field. I see that the younger 
generation among naturalists are at this moment falling 
into the mistake of making assertions and presenting 
views as scientific principles which are not even based 
upon ready observation. I think it is time that some 
positive remonstrances be made against that tendency. 
The manner in which the evolution theory in zoology is 
treated would lead those who are not special zoologists 
to suppose that observations have been made by which 
it can be inferred that there is in nature such a thing on 
record. It is shifting the ground from one field of 
observation to another to make this statement; and when 
the assertions go so far as to exclude from the domain 
of science those who will not be dragged into this mire of 
mere assertion, then it is time to protest." 

The record of God's creative work, in the first chap- 
ter of Genesis, seven times repeats that herbs, grass, fruit 
trees, water creatures, fowls, creeping things, beasts, and 
cattle, each produce "after his kind." The law "after his 
kind" is written in every species of natural history, in 
support of that statement by the Creator. 



CHAPTER IV 

Creation and Science 

\\7HEN one writes or speaks of the work of creation 
** on the authority of the Bible, he often meets the 
questions: "Is the Bible a scientific work? Can we rely 
upon its statements as scientific facts?" 

Let us first inquire, What is science? The term 
comes from the Latin scientia, knowledge, or from scire, 
to know. Science, then, is that which is known. It is 
not theory, speculation, or hypothesis ; it is positive knowl- 
edge. God is the author of all true science. Since He 
is the Creator and maintainer of all things, He alone has 
an actual knowledge of all that He has created. See 
Acts 15:18; Isa. 46:9, 10. In the Bible, the Lord re- 
veals much about the things He has created; hence the 
Bible, first of all, is an essential of true science. With- 
out it, scientists are ignorant of the creative act which 
is inseparably connected with the foundations of all truth 
and all knowledge. Paul gives this warning: "O Tim- 
othy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding 
profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science 
falsely so called." 1 Tim. 6:20. The Emphatic Diaglott 
translates the latter part of this text, "the contradictions 
of that falsely named knowledge." 

Scientists confess their inability to know the facts of 
creation unaided by a divine revelation. Dr. John Tyn- 
dall says, "Behind and above and all around scientific 
knowledge, the real mystery of this world lies unsolved; 
and so far as we are concerned, it is incapable of solu- 
tion." — "Fragments of Science" pages 92, 93. Herbert 

27 



28 The Kingdom of God 

Spencer, after declaring that a past eternity of matter 
is inconceivable, adds, "Impossible as it is to think of 
the actual universe as self-existing, we do but multiply 
impossibilities of thought by every attempt we make to 
explain existence." — "First Principles of Philosophy" 
page 36. 

It is only through divine revelation that a correct 
knowledge of creation is obtainable. 

Darwin, with a display of that false science against 
which the Bible bears emphatic warning, presents a false 
scientific view of the creation of man. He boldly asserts 
that "man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished 
with a tail and pointed ears; probably arboreal in its 
habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World. ... In a 
series of forms graduating insensibly from some apelike 
creature to man, as he now exists." — "Descent of Man" 
Vol. 2, page 382; Vol. I, page 226. 

Hugh Miller completes the story as follows: "His 
great, great, great, great-grandfather the seapen; his 
great, great, great-grandfather the mussel ; his great great- 
grandfather the herring; his great-grandfather the frog; 
his grandfather the porpoise; his father the monkey." — 
"Footprints of the Creator" page 219. 

Tyndall, an equal authority with Darwin, says: "The 
proofs of evolution are still wanting; the failures have 
been lamentable; the doctrine is utterly discredited." 
"For superior knowledge of first things, for clear, plain 
statements of human origin, for lofty common sense that 
stamps it as all divine, the Book here asserts itself." 
Darwin has turned to dust, but "the word of our God 
endureth forever." 

DOES THE BIBLE AGREE WITH SCIENCE? 

If this question means, does the Bible agree with man's 
imperfect knowledge of science? the answer is, No. If 
it means, Does the Bible agree with true science? the 



Creation and Science 29 

reply is, Yes. If the Bible were to agree with the pres- 
ent imperfect presentation of science, or had it agreed 
with that of the past, it would thus be proved inaccurate; 
for science is constantly changing. On this point, Sir 
Charles Lyell said that estimates had been made as to 
the rate at w T hich the mud deposits had formed above 
some pottery found deep in the bed of the river Nile; 
and these estimates indicated that at least thirty thou- 
sand years must have been required to cover the pottery 
to the depth at which it was found. This evidence was 
given to prove that man had been on the earth thirty 
thousand years, rather than six thousand years, as the 
Bible record affirms. When the pottery in question was 
taken to Rome, it was recognized as quite modern pot- 
tery. Needless to say that the Bible does not agree with 
such science. Let scientists agree before they attack the 
Bible. Note the following: 

Geology and the Age of the Earth 

Professor Ramsey estimated the age of the earth at 
fullv ten million years. ("Age of the Earth," Lord 
Kelvin.) 

Eugene Dubois estimated it at about one million years. 
("Scripture of Truth," Collett, page 246.) 

Goodchild, about seven hundred million years. {Ibid.) 

Sir Charles Lyell, about four hundred million years. 
{Ibid.) 

Darwin, more than three hundred million years. 
("Origin of Species.") 

Sir Oliver Lodge, more than a hundred million years. 
(Address at City Temple, Nov. 2, 1905.) 

Sir George H. Darwin, at least sixty million years. 
("The Tides," G. H. Darwin.) 

Professor Sallas thought it about fifty-five million 
years. ("Age of the Earth," W. J. Sallas.) 

Lord Kelvin, about tw T o million years. ("Age of the 
Earth," Kelvin.) 



30 The Kingdom of God 

Doctor Croll estimated it at about twenty million 
years. ("Stellar Evolution.") 

Professor Tait, at most ten million years. ("Recent 
Advances in Physical Science.") 

Which of these estimates is scientific truth? No two 
of them agree, and both the Bible and true science dis- 
own them. 

Professor Sayce says : "Surprises are constantly in store 
for the Assyrian decipherer, and a tiny fragment may 
suddenly throw new light on a question he had supposed 
to be settled. In fact, in Assyriology, as in all other 
branches of science, there is no finality/' "We must 
write our history of Elam all over again. We have been 
wrong, and the first chapter of Genesis is right after all." 
— "Scripture of Truth" pages 205, 271. 

Dr. Cheyne: "There can be no antagonism between 
true science and true religion; they clash only when they 
are false. Their present antagonism is only another 
word for our ignorance." — Ibid. 

Contradictory Views 

Sir William Thompson, in the North British Review, 
No. 3, page 222, after giving clear evidence disproving 
the ideas of popular geology, says: "Here is direct oppo- 
sition between physical astronomy and modern geology 
as represented by a very large, very influential, and — I 
may add, in some respects — philosophical and sound 
body of investigators, constituting perhaps a majority of 
British geologists. It is quite certain that a mistake has 
been made — that British popular geology at the present 
time is in direct opposition to the principles of natural 
philosophy." 

Shall we give up our faith in the Bible, in God, who 
created all things, and in Jesus, the Saviour of a fallen 
race, for theories which are so self-destructive? 



Creation and Science 31 



The Testimony of True Science 

Commenting on the evolutionary theories of creation, 
an article in the London Times Literary Supplement of 
June 9, 1905, says: 

1 'Never was seen such a melee. The humor of it is 
that they all claim to represent science, . . . yet it would 
puzzle them to point to a theological battle field exhibit- 
ing more uncertainty, obscurity, dissension, assumption, 
and fallacy than their own. For the plain truth is, that 
there is not a single point in which all agree. Battling 
for evolution, they have torn it to pieces ; nothing is left — 
nothing at all, on their showing, save a few fragments 
strewn about the arena." Lord Kelvin, in the London 
Times, May 4, 1903, asks: "Was there anything so 
absurd as to believe that a number of atoms, by falling 
together of their own accord, could make a sprig of moss, 
a microbe, a living animal? ... It is utterly absurd. 
. . . Here scientific thought is compelled to accept the 
idea of creative power. Forty years ago I asked Liebig 
... if he believed that the grass and flowers, which we 
saw around us, grew by mere mechanical forces. He 
answered, 'No, no more than I could believe that a 
book of botany describing them could grow by mere 
chemical force.' ' And Lord Kelvin said to a class of 
medical students, October 28, 1904: "Let them not 
imagine that any hocus-pocus of electricity or viscous fluids 
could make a living cell. . . . No artificial process what- 
ever could make living matter out of dead'* 

Let the scientist put the question to a practical test. 
Let him take a seed, and analyze and produce it, and 
plant it alongside one produced by order from the 
Creator's throne, and let him observe the growth of the 
one and the decay of the other. The test is easy. It 
is scientific. It is within the range of demonstrable 
facts. Why not test it? The admission of defeat is a 



32 ) The Kingdom of God 

surrender of the hypothesis of life from any source ex- 
cept a creative power. 

Professor Post, a scientist from Syria, visited the Brit-, 
ish Museum oi Natural History in 1885. He was asso- 
ciated, during his visit, with Mr. Ethridge, who was 
considered one of the foremost experts in that great 
institution. 

"Professor Post asked Mr. Ethridge to show him, in 
that museum, some proofs of Darwin's theory; and he 
was astonished when so great an expert said: 'In all this 
great museum, there is not a particle of evidence of trans- 
mutation of species. ... It is not founded on observa- 
tion and facts. The talk of the antiquity of man is of 
the same value; there is no such thing as fossil man. I 
have read all their books, but they make no impression. 
This museum is full of proofs of the utter falsity of such 
views.' " — "Inspiration of the Bible/' Forlong. 

The Hon. William Jennings Bryan on Darwinism 

Mr. Bryan in one of his public addresses, entitled 
"The Prince of Peace," refuses to accept the theory of 
Darwin on the assent of Man, because "it does not solve 
the mystery of life or explain human progress." He 
further says, "All I mean to say is that while you may 
trace your ancestry back to a monkey, if you find pleasure 
or pride in doing so, you shall not connect me with your 
family tree without more evidence than has yet been 
produced." And further: "I object to the theory for 
several reasons. First, it is a dangerous theory. If a 
man links himself in generations with the monkey, it 
then becomes an important question whether he is going 
toward him or coming from him — and I have seen them 
going in both directions. I do not know of any argu- 
ment that can be used to prove that a man is an improved 
monkey, that may not be used just as well to prove 
that the monkey is a degenerate man; and the latter 
theory is more plausible than the former. 



Creation and Science 33 

"It is true that man, in some physical characteristics, 
resembles the beast; but man has a mind as well as a 
body, and a soul as well as a mind. The mind is greater 
than the body, and the soul is greater than the mind; and 
I object to having man's pedigree traced on one third of 
him only — and that the lowest third. Fairbairn, in his 
'Philosophy of Christianity,' lays down a sound propo- 
sition when he says that it is not sufficient to explain 
man as an animal; that it is necessary to explain man in 
history — and the Darwinian theory does not do this. 
The ape, according to this theory, is older than man; 
and yet the ape is still an ape, while man is the author 
of the marvelous civilization which we see about us. 

"One does not escape from mystery, however, by ac- 
cepting this theory; for it does not explain the origin of 
life. When the follower of Darwin has traced the 
germ of life back to the lowest form in which it appears — 
and to follow him, one must exercise more faith than 
religion calls for — he finds that scientists differ. Those 
who reject the idea of creation are divided into two 
schools, some believing that the first germ of life came 
from another planet, and others holding that it was the 
result of spontaneous generation. Each school answers 
the arguments advanced by the other; and as they 
cannot agree with each other, I am not compelled to agree 
with either. 

"Go back as far as we may, we cannot escape from the 
creative act; and it is just as easy for me to believe that 
God created man as he is, as to believe that, millions of 
years ago, He created a germ of life, and endowed it 
with power to develop into all that we see today. I 
object to the Darwinian theory, until more conclusive 
proof is produced, because I fear we shall lose the con- 
sciousness of God's presence in our daily life, if we must 
accept the theory that through all ages, no spiritual force 
has touched the life of man or shaped the destiny of 
nations." 



34 The Kingdom of God 

"But there is another objection. The Darwinian 
theory represents man as reaching his present perfection 
by the operation of the law of hate — the merciless law 
by which the strong crowd out and kill off the weak. 
If this is the law of our development, then, if there is 
any logic that can bind the human mind, we shall turn 
backward toward the beast in proportion as we substitute 
the law of love. I prefer to believe that love rather 
than hatred is the law of development." 

One who receives the evolutionary theories of today, 
must reject God as the Creator; and to reject the Cre- 
atorship of God is to reject the gospel. If there was no 
creation and no fall, then there was no need for an atone- 
ment. But the silent tablets, lying deeply buried, arose 
at the time of the greatest scepticism, to bear their testi- 
mony in confirmation of the Bible record of creation and 
the Flood. Science stood abashed, and again corrected 
its reckoning. Again the Bible record was vindicated by 
the sepulchered history of the past. True science ever 
confirms the Bible record of creation. 



PART II 

THE BIBLE A TEXT BOOK OF THE KINGDOM 

CHAPTER V 

The Bible the Word of God 

T\ URING the first period of time, God gave His 
- _ word direct to the people by talking with them, or 
communicating it from generation to generation by the 
head of the family, as Adam (Gen. 2:16), Cain (Gen. 
4:6), Noah (Gen. 6:13), Abram (Gen. 12:1), Abime- 
lech (Gen. 20:3), Isaac (Gen. 26:2), and Jacob (Gen. 
28:13). About 1500 B.C. this written revelation was 
begun, so far as we have record, in the days of Moses. 

But how could Moses write the record of creation two 
thousand five hundred years after the event had hap- 
pened? The statement is plainly made in Ex. 24:4 that 
"Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." What Moses 
wrote was not merely gleanings from cuneiform tablets 
and from oriental tradition, but "the word of the Lord." 
Sayce says of Canaan, "Schools and libraries, in fact, must 
have existed everywhere, and the art of reading and writ- 
ing must have been as widely spread as it was in Europe 
before the days of the penny post." — "Higher Criticism" 
page 57. Compare his "Early Israel" Introduction. 

As to the view once advanced by critics, that the time 
of Moses was an illiterate age, he says, "From one end 
of the civilized ancient world to the other, men and' 
women were reading and writing and corresponding with 

35 



36 The Kingdom of God 

one another; schools abounded, and great libraries were 
formed, in an age which the critic only a few years ago 
declared was almost wholly illiterate." — Monument Facts, 
page 42. 

The fact that there was much reliable history in the 
days of Moses does not in the least remove the neces- 
sity for a divine revelation in order that Moses should 
give a correct account of creation. 

THE DIVINE AUTHORSHIP OF THE BIBLE 

The Bible has stood the test of time, and proclaimed 
its superiority over all other books in the world. It has 
met all forms of faith and worship, triumphed over all 
false divinities and their sacred books, and "still stands 
unimpaired by the conflict — unmoved and immovable as 
the Rock of Ages." It occupies this position because 
it is the word of God. 

It was written by many different writers, during a 
period of fifteen hundred years, and covers a greater 
variety of subjects than any other book ever written. In 
its scope and variety of themes, in its candid, truthful, 
and fearless statements, it stands without a rival in 
literature. It begins with the beginning of the creation 
of the heavens and the earth. It predicts the final dis- 
solution and restoration, when "the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat, the earth also and the work that are there- 
in shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10. 

It presents the earthly territory of the kingdom as re- 
covered from the curse and blight of sin: "Nevertheless, 
we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and 
a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Verse 13. 
It tells the story of man's creation in the image of God, 
his fall from primeval innocence, and the good news of 
his redemption and final admission into Paradise restored. 
It gives to the world a code of morals so perfect as to 



The Bible the Word of God 37 

cover every relationship of mankind, and reveals a day 
of judgment as the time when rewards will be given to 
all, according to their deeds. It reveals the attributes of 
God, and unveils "the mystery of godliness — God mani- 
fest in the flesh." It presents the rights of ruler and the 
ruled in civil government, and through the prophecies, 
forecasts the history of the rise and fall of empires. 

Although written by men living in Judea's deserts, in 
Jewish temple courts, in kingly palaces, by shepherds, 
tax gatherers, and fishermen, in the midst of pantheism, 
polytheism, and other forms of idolatry and Hebrew for- 
malism, yet all wrote in perfect unison, and their writ- 
ings are free from the philosophy of their surroundings. 
When they wrote, their minds were so guided that no 
taint of these false teachings corrupts their pure and 
truthful utterances. This is one of the strongest evi- 
dences of the divine authorship of the Bible. „ 

After nearly two thousand years of test, hungry human 
hearts who seek a better life still find that all its promises 
are "yea and amen in Christ Jesus." The only explana- 
tion for this foresight and unity lies in the fact that "the 
prophecies came not in old time by the will of man: but 
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21. And one mind of infinite wis- 
dom controlled the writings of all throughout the volume. 

When Moses wrote "What nation is there . . . that 
hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law?" 
(Deut. 4:8), he recognized that the nations had their 
laws, but that there was a vast difference between them 
and the God-given laws of Israel. 

THE WORD OF THE LORD 

"The Bible is not primarily a record of man's thoughts 
about God, but a record of what God has done, and 
revealed of Himself to man. Its basis is not, 'Thus and 
thus thinks man,' but, 'Thus and thus says Jehovah,' or 



38 The Kingdom of God 

'Thus and thus Jehovah has done.' " "He made known 
His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of 
Israel." Ps. 103:7. 

The Bible ever disproves of sin, and demands holiness. 
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what 
doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to 
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 
Micah 6:8. "A religion of this kind, so high in its 
views of God, so true to the needs of man, so adequate 
in its provisions for man's deliverance, never emanated, 
we are sure, from man's own devisings. It is too high 
for him; he could not attain to it. Even if he could 
have conceived the idea of it, he could not have trans- 
lated it into fact and history as is done in the Scriptures." 
— "Problems of the Old Testament/' James Orr, 
page 44. 

These facts confirm the statement of Nehemiah that 
what "they found written in the law" was that "which 
the Lord had commanded by Moses." Neh. 8:14. This 
required the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by which the 
prophets were moved to write the Scriptures. "All Scrip- 
ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness." 2 Tim. 3:16. Peter plainly declares 
that prophecy came not by the will of man, but by the 
moving of the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21. 

Hence it is written, "Moses wrote all the words of the 
Lord." So in the Psalms, and in all the writings of the 
prophets and apostles, it is ever written, "The Spirit of 
the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." 
2 Sam. '23 :2. 

The following introductory phrases are common ex- 
pressions with which the Bible writers introduced their 
messages : 

"Thus saith the Lord." 

"These are the words which the Lord hath com- 
manded." Ex. 35:1. 



The Bible the Word of God 39 

"The Lord hath spoken." Isa. 1 :2. 

"The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel." 
Ezek. 1 13. 

Amos wrote "the words . . . which he saw concern- 
ing Israel." Amos 1:1. 

"Behold I have put My word in thy mouth." Jer. 
1:9. 

"Have I now any power at all to say anything? the 
word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak." 
Num. 22:38. 

"The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, . . . 
Hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning 
from Me." Ezek. 3:16, 17. 

"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet." Matt. 1 :22 ; 
2:15. 

"David himself said by the Holy Ghost." Mark 
13:36. 

"He (the Lord) spake by the mouth of His holy 
prophets, which have been since the world began." Luke 
1 70. 

"As the Holy Ghost saith." Heb. 3 :?. 

The last book of the Bible opens with these words: 
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto 
Him, to show unto His servants things which must 
shortly come to pass ; and He sent and signified it by His 
angel unto His servant John: who bear record of the 
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and 
of all things that he saw." Rev. 1:1, 2. 

In the closing words of the book, we read, "He which 
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly." Rev. 
22 :20. 

Since the writings of the prophets and apostles were 
the words of God, it is no wonder that there was given 
the solemn warning through Moses, "Ye shall not add 
unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye 
diminish aught from it" (Deut. 4:2); and the admoni- 



40 The Kingdom of God 

tion through the prophet Agur, "Add thou not unto His 
words" (Prov. 30:6); and the warning in the closing 
book of the Bible: "For I testify unto every man that 
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any 
man shaM add unto these things, God shall add unto him 
the plagues that are written in this book: and if any 
man shall take away from the word of the book of this 
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book 
of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
which are written in this book." Rev. 22:18, 19. 

HOW WAS THE CANON OF THE BIBLE SETTLED? 

According to Dr. Jacob's "Bible Chronology'' the 
books of the Old Testament were arranged in their order 
by Ezra, about 457 B. C, Nehemiah and Malachi being 
omitted, because they were written later. There are 
said to be about 280 direct quotations from the Old 
Testament in the New Testament. Counting indirect 
references, the number reaches 850, and includes refer- 
ences to all Old Testament books except Ezra, Nehe- 
miah, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. The Old 
Testament was recognized as the Scriptures in three 
divisions in the days of Christ. Luke 22 144. Both Dr. 
Driver, and Dr. James Orr approve of the following 
statement by Josephus: 

"We have not myriads of discordant and conflicting 
books, but twenty-two only, comprising the record of all 
time, and justly accredited as divine. Of these,, five 
are books of Moses, which embrace the laws and the 
traditions of the origin of mankind, until his own death, 
a period of almost three thousand years. From the death 
of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes (465-425 B. C), 
the prophets who followed Moses narrated the events of 
their time in thirteen books. The remaining four books 
consist of hymns to God, and maxims of conduct for 
men. From Artaxerxes to our own age, the history has 



The Bible the Word of God 4* 

been written in detail, but it is not esteemed worthy of 
the same credit, on account of the exact succession of the 
prophets having been no longer maintained." "Contra 
Jpion" i. 8, Driver, page 9. 

This testimony shows what the Jews believed to be the 
inspired books of the Old Testament in the first century 
before Christ. The twenty-two books of which Josephus 
speaks combine Ruth with Samuel, and Lamentations 
with Jeremiah. With this understanding, his reckoning 
harmonizes with others, giving the number of the Old 
Testament books as twenty-four. 

So general is the quotation of the New Testament 
writers of the early centuries after Christ, that Sir David 
Dalrymple said: "As I possessed all of the existing 
works of the fathers of the second and third centuries, 
I commenced to search; and up to this time, I have 
found the entire New Testament, except eleven verses/* 
("The Book of Books," by Evans, page 54.) Such facts 
are evidence that the Bible was written at the time and' 
was regarded with the consideration which its declaration 
of inspired origin would demand. 

A TEST OF INSPIRATION 

The Catholic council of Trent, 1545-1563, decided 
that the fourteen books of the Apocrypha should be 
included in the canon of Scripture. Why have they 
not been received as inspired books? Let Martin 
Luther answer: "The church cannot give more force or 
authority to a book than it has in itself. A council can- 
not make that to be scripture which in its own nature 
is not Scripture." It was because the apocryphal books 
lacked the internal evidence of inspiration, that they 
were rejected. 

Herein lies the principle upon which the all-important 
question of how it was decided that one book was in- 
spired and another uninspired was settled. It was upon 



42 The Kingdom of God 

the internal united evidence of their inspiration. The 
Bible is a revelation of divinely revealed principles rather 
than merely a revelation of abstract wordings. James 
Orr says: 

"The simple fact that in this sacred volume, so mar- 
velous in its own structure, so harmonious and complete 
in the view it gives of the dealings of God with man, so 
rich and exhaustless in its spiritual content, so filled with 
the manifest presence and power of the Spirit of God, 
that we have everything we need to acquaint us fully 
with the mind and will of God for our salvation, and to 
supply us for all the ends of our spiritual life, is suffi- 
cient evidence that the revelation which God has given 
is, in every essential particular, surely and faithfully 
embodied in it. No more than the revelation from 
which it springs, is the Bible a product of mere human 
wisdom, but has God for its inspiring source. 

"This, as we understand it, is the Bible's own test 
of its inspiration, alike in Old Testament and in New; 
and by it, without nearer definition, we are content, for 
our present purpose, to abide. The subject is taken hold 
of by its wrong end when the test of inspiration is sought 
primarily in minute inerrancy in external details, as 
those of geography, or chronology, or of physical science." 
— "Problem of the Old Testament/' pages 49, 50. 

Inspiration manifests itself in sifting out the legendary 
and mystical, using only the genuine, as well as in giving 
direct revelation. 

EMINENT MEN'S VIEWS OF THE BIBLE 

Professor Sayce read a paper in Londonderry, Sep- 
tember 27, 1905, in which, while comparing other his- 
torical writings with the Bible, he said, "On the spiritual 
and religious side there was a gulf between them that 
could not be spanned." 

Lord Bacon: "There never was found, in any age of 



The Bible the Word of God 43 

the world, either religion or law that did so exalt the 
public good as the Bible." 

Men of the ripest experience and scholarship witness 
to the superiority of the Bible over all other books. 

Mr. Roosevelt: "I enter a most earnest plea that in 
our hurried and rather hustling life of to-day, we do 
not lose the hold that our forefathers had on the Bible. 
... I ask that the Bible be studied for the sake of the 
breadth it must give to every man who studies it. I 
cannot understand the mental attitude of those who 
would put the Bible to one side as not being a book of 
interest to grown men." . . . — "The Outlook!' May 
27, 191 1, page 223. 

Gladstone: "The older I grow, the more confirmed I 
am in my faith and religion. I have been in public life 
fifty-eight years, and forty-seven in the cabinet of the 
British Government; and during those forty-seven years, 
I have been associated with sixty of the master minds of 
the country, and all but five of the sixty were Chris- 
tians." 

James Russell Lowell: "When the microscopic search 
of skepticism, which has hunted the heavens and sounded' 
the seas to disprove the existence of the Creator, has 
turned its attention to human society, and found on this 
planet ten square miles where a decent man can live in 
decency, comfort, and security, supporting and educating 
his children, unspoiled and unpolluted, a place where 
age is reverenced, infancy cherished, manhood respected, 
womanhood honored, and human life held in due re- 
gard, — when skeptics can find such a place ten miles 
square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has 
not gone first and cleared the way, and laid the founda- 
tions, and made decency and security possible, it will then 
be in order for the skeptics to move thither and there 



ventilate their views.' 



Bishop Quayle: "The Bible allows itself to be de- 
stroyed with impunity. It has no apparent thought for 



44 The Kingdom of God 

self-preservation. All kinds of men have done it to 
death. Sapient critics have shot it full of holes, and 
cheered themselves in their unvalorous task; and then 
the Bible went straight on, gloriously on. While the 
Bible was being destroyed, pared away, by naturalists, it 
was published in more tongues, read by more eyes, leaned 
over by more hearts, thanked God for by more converts, 
than in all the years past. God's word, God's church, 
God's day, will stand while eternity stays on its feet." 

Bishop F. C. Pierce: "The Bible, sir, is the guide of 
the erring, and the reclaimer of the wandering; it heals 
the sick, consoles the dying, and purifies the living. Let 
the master give it to the pupil, the professor to his class, 
the father to his son, the mother to her daughter; place 
it in every home in the land; then shall the love of God 
cover the earth, and the light of salvation overlay the 
land as the sunbeams of morning lie upon the mountains." 

Coleridge testifies: "I know the Bible is inspired, be- 
cause it finds me at a greater depth of my being than any 
other book." 

Sir Walter Scott, when dying, asked his friend Lock- 
hart to read to him ; and Lockhart, looking at the twenty 
thousand volumes covering the walls of Scott's costly 
library, said, " 'What book would you like?' 'Need you 
ask?' said Sir Walter. 'There is but one.' And so 
Lockhart read to him from that one book — the Bible — 
the words of eternal life." "Scriptures of Truth/' page 
324. 

In a collection of twenty thousand volumes there was 
but one book that could give the needed comfort to that 
great man of letters, in his dying hour. That book 
alone could speak words of comfort in the face of death. 

Woodrow Wilson: "I am sorry for the men who do 
not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they de- 
prive themselves of the strength and of the pleasure. It 
is one of the most singular books in the world ; for every 
time you open it, some old text that you have read a 



The Bible the Word of God 45 

score of times, suddenly beams with a new meaning. . . . 
There is no other book that I know of, of which this is 
true; there is no other book that yields its meaning so 
personally, that seems to fit itself so intimately to the 
very spirit that is seeking its guidance." 

O wondrous word of God! Blessed volume of light 
and life ! Shine on as the star of Bethlehem, to light the 
feet of earth's weary wanderers, back into the pathway 
of peace, truth, love, home and heaven. 

"Lamp for the feet that in byways have wandered; 

Guide for the youth that would otherwise fall; 
Hope for the sinner whose life has been squandered; 

Staff for the aged, and best book for all." 



CHAPTER VI 

Fulfilled Prophecy an Evidence of Divine 
Inspiration 

pROPHECY is history in advance. No man, unless 
*■ he is called of God to be a prophet, can write in ad- 
vance the history of men and nations. 

In this the Bible reveals its author, and presents His 
wisdom in contrast with the ignorance of men. God 
appeals to man's intelligence as follows: "To whom will 
ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that 
we may be like?" "I am God, and there is none like 
Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from 
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, 
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." 
Isa. 46:5, 9, 10. 

"Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the 
deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered to- 
gether, and let the people be assembled : who among them 
can declare this, and show us former things? let them 
bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: 
or let them hear, and say, It is truth." Isa. 43 :8,9- 

The consistency and scope of these appeals are charac- 
teristic of their Author. They reveal His infinite wis- 
dom in contrast with our finite limitations. 

THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS 

About three thousand five hundred years ago, because 
of apostasy, God foretold, through Moses, the dispersion 
of the Jews among all nations: "The Lord shall cause 

46 



Fulfilled Prophecy an Evidence 47 

thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out 
one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: 
and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." 
"And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and 
a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead 
thee." "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all peo- 
ple, from the one end of the earth even unto the other." 
Deut. 28:25, 37, 64. 

On this point, Charles Pettit M'llvaine says: "There 
is nothing in the history of nations so unaccountable on 
human principles as the destruction and the preservation 
of the Jews. 'Scattered among all nations,' where are 
they not? Citizens of the world, and yet citizens of no 
country in the world, in what habitable part of the 
world is not the Jew familiarly known? He has wan- 
dered everywhere, and is still everywhere a wanderer. 
One characteristic of this wonderful race is written over 
all their history, from their dispersion to the present time. 
In this condition of universal affliction, how singular it 
is that among all people, the Jew is 'an astonishment, a 
proverb, a byw T ord'; such is not the case with any other 
people. Among Christians, heathens, and Mohammedans, 
from England to China, and thence to America, the cun- 
ning, the avarice, the riches of the Jew, are proverbial. 
. . . For nearly eighteen hundred years, they have been 
scattered and mixed up among all people; . . . and still 
the Jews are a people, a distinct people, unassimilated with 
any nation. . . . Their peculiarities are undiminished. 
They witnessed the glory of Egypt and of Babylon and 
of Nineveh; they were in mature age at the birth of 
Macedon and of Rome; mighty kingdoms have risen and 
perished since they began to be scattered and enslaved; 
and now they traverse the ruins of all, the same people 
as when they left Judea, preserving in themselves a 
monument of the days of Moses and the Pharaohs, as un- 
changed as the pyramids of Memphis, which they are 
reputed to have built. . . . 



48 The Kingdom of God 

"What is this but miracle? Connected with the 
prophecy which it fulfills, it is a double miracle. 
Whether testimony can ever establish the credibility of 
a miracle, is of no importance here. This one is obvious 
to every man's senses. All nations are its eye-witnesses." 
— "Evidences of Christianity" pages 261-265. 

"Frederick the Great, it is said, sneeringly demanded 
of his court chaplain proof that the Bible was inspired. 
The sententious answer was given, 'The Jew.' " 

"Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be 
reckoned among the nations." Num. 23 :g. 

"According to Sir Francis Montefiore, there are about 
twelve million Jews in the world, whose very existence 
constitutes what Sir John Kennaway recently called 
f the mystery and the miracle of the Jews.' 'Here,' he 
said, 'was a nation without a country, a people without a 
government, a race without a home, hated yet indispen- 
sable, despised yet powerful.' " 

History presents no parallel to this most singular phe- 
nomenon. Other nations rise and fall, and their identity 
is lost in the great mass of humanity; but not so with 
the Jew. The wisdom and foreknowledge of God are 
manifest here in the fulfillment of the prophetic utter- 
ances through Moses. 

BABYLON 

God predicted the overthrow of the ancient city of 
Babylon. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the 
beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God 
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be 
inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation 
to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; 
neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." Isa. 
13:19, 20. 

What is the testimony of history as to the fulfillment 
of this prophecy? 



Fulfilled Prophecy an Evidence 49 

"Mignon declares Babylon to be 'a tenantless and 
desolate metropolis.' Sixteen centuries have passed since 
it was inhabited by a single human being. Another 
writer says: 'The name and remnant are cut off from 
Babylon. There the Arabian pitches not his tents; there 
the shepherds make not their folds; but wild beasts of 
the desert lie there, and their houses are full of doleful 
creatures. It is a possession for the bittern and a dwell- 
ing place for dragons; a wilderness, a dry land, and a 
desert; a burnt mountain, empty, wholly desolate, pools 
of water, heaps, and utterly destroyed; a land where 
no man dwelleth; every one that goeth by it is aston- 
ished." Only in this generation are the ruins of Babylon 
uncovered, and prophecy confirmed. 

THE RUIN OF TYRE 

Tyre was once a thriving seaport and commercial 
metropolis. On account of its wickedness, divine 
prophecy foretold that it should be scraped as a rock. 
"They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down 
her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and 
make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for 
the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have 
spoken it, saith the Lord God ; and it shall become a spoil 
to the nations." Ezek. 26:4,5. 

So completely has this prophecy been fulfilled, that the 
infidel Volney quotes it in his book of travels, in describ- 
ing the ruins of this city as it now stands. After quo- 
ting the prophecy as a fragment of antiquity, and applying 
it to Tyre, he says: "The vicissitudes of time, or rather 
the barbarism of the Greeks of the lower empire, and the 
Mohammedans, have accomplished the prediction." — 
" Volney' s Travels?' Volume 2, pages 210, 212. 

He adds the statement that the whole village of Tyre 
"contains only fifty or sixty poor families, who live ob- 
scurely on a trifling fishery." Alexander caused its 



50 The Kingdom of God 

stones, timbers, and dust to be thrown into the sea to 
make a bridge to New Tyre. Thus it was scraped as a 
rock, and its dust was removed. 

"The port of Tyre," says Dr. Shaw, "is choked up 
with sand and rubbish to that degree that the boats of 
the fishermen who now and then visit this once renowned 
emporium, and dry their nets upon its rocks and ruins, 
can with difficulty only be admitted." 

Egypt's future foretold 

About six hundred years before Christ, the prophet 
Ezekiel foretold the future of Egypt: "I will bring again 
the captivity of Egypt. ... It shall be the basest of 
the kingdoms; ... for I will diminish them that they 
shall no more rule over the nations." "And there shall 
be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." "Thus will 
I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that 
I am the Lord." Ezek. 29:14, 15; 30:13, 19. 

At the time this prophecy was written, Egypt was one 
of the most powerful of earthly kingdoms. The fulfill- 
ment of the prediction seemed improbable. But again 
Volney, in his "Travels," Volume 1, testifies: "Such is 
the state of Egypt. Deprived twenty-three centuries 
ago of her natural proprietors, she has seen her fertile 
fields successively a prey to the Persians, the Mace- 
donians, the Romans, the Greeks and Arabs, the Geor- 
gians, and at length the race of Tartars, distinguished 
by the name of Ottoman Turks. The Mamelukes, pur- 
chased as slaves, and introduced as soldiers, soon usurped 
the power, and elected a leader. . . . The system of 
oppression is methodical. Everything the traveler sees 
or hears reminds him that he is in the country of slavery 
and tyranny." Gibbon bears similar testimony, "Decline 
and Fall," Volume 6, pages 109, no, Dublin edition. 

Why are all these instances given thus through the 
prophets? It is that men may know that the Author of 



Fulfilled Prophecy an Evidence 51 

these predictions is the all-wise God, and that the writers 
of the Bible were holy men of God, who, being moved by 
the Holy Ghost, w T rote such things as "the Spirit of 
Christ which was in them did testify." God has taken 
all this pains to reveal Himself through His word be- 
cause He "is long-suffering to usward, not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance." Fulfilled prophecy lays a firm foundation for 
faith in God, and faith in God is the logical beginning of 
a triumphant Christian life. Heb. 11:16. 

"will the old book stand?" 

is the title of a tract written by the late H. L. Hastings, 
from which the following is taken: 

"The Bible, to my mind, bears the marks of divine 
inspiration in the foresight which it exhibits. This book 
foretells things. You cannot do that. You cannot tell 
what will be next year, or next week. 

"The revelations of prophecy are facts which exhibit 
the divine omniscience. So long as Babylon is in heaps; 
so long as Nineveh lies empty, void, and waste; so long 
as Egypt is the basest of kingdoms; so long as Tyre is a 
place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; 
so long as Israel is scattered among all nations; so long 
as Jerusalem is trodden under foot of the Gentiles; so 
long as the great empires of the world march on in 
their predicted course, — so long we have proof that one 
omniscient Mind dictated the predictions of that Book, 
and 'prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.' " 

The illustrations cited in this chapter are only a sample 
of the prophetic portions of the Bible. They are pre- 
sented as detached leaves of that sacred volume, for the 
purpose of inducing the reader to enter upon a more ex- 
tended study of the Bible, the great storehouse of divine 
inspiration. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Bible and Modern Criticism 

*"p HE term "higher criticism" was originated by Eich- 
A horn, who lived 1752 to 1827. The movement 
seems to have originated at a much earlier period. It 
was first introduced in a work entitled "The Cannon 
of Scripture," by Carlstadt, in 1521. In 1574, Andreas 
Massius, a Belgian scholar, published a commentary 
which was a criticism of the book of Joshua. This was 
followed by a work by a Roman Catholic priest on system- 
atic theology, in 1660. The author's name was Peyrere 
or Pererius. 

The first modern open attack upon the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament was made by Spinoza, a nationalist 
Dutch philosopher, in his work entitled "Tractatus 
Theologico-Politicus," 1670. He was followed by Hobbs, 
of England, who was an outspoken antagonist of a divine 
revelation. He also denied the Mosaic authorship of 
the Pentateuch. Richard Simon, a French priest, fol- 
lowed with a historical criticism of the Old Testament. 
In 1685, a Dutch critic named Clericus (or Le Clerc) 
advocated a priestly authorship of the Pentateuch. Vol- 
taire wrote against the Bible in the early part of the 
eighteenth century. 

According to "Briggs's Higher Criticism of the Penta- 
teuch," page 46, Astruc, a French medical man and a 
free thinker, wrote the Jehovistic and Elohistic divisive 
hypothesis. He claimed that these two names, Jehovah 
arid Elohim, showed that the book was composed of dif- 
ferent documents. The work was entitled "Conjectures 

52 



The Bible and Modern Criticism 53 

Regarding the Original Memoirs in the Book of Genesis." 
It was published in Brussels. 

In 1770, a German named Eichhorn, Oriental pro- 
fessor at Gottingen, wrote a work on the Old Testament 
introduction. He was followed by other German critics, 
— Vater, Hartman, Professor DeWette, of Heidelberg, 
Vatke, Leopold George, Bleek, Ewald, Hupfleld, and 
Graff, — who wrote from about 1806 to 1866. Profes- 
sor Kuenen of Leiden, Holland, wrote two works from 
1865 to 1877. 

The British-American critics began their work about 
1862, the first publications of note being a production 
by Dr. Samuel Davidson, entitled "Introduction to the 
Old Testament." He was followed by George Adam 
Smith, Dr. S. R. Driver, Dr. C. A. Briggs, and many 
others. For a more complete list, see Professor Bissell's 
work on the Pentateuch, Scribner's, 1892. 

Modern Protestant criticism has undoubtedly devel- 
oped its theories for the purpose of relieving the Bible of 
what seemed to the critics to be unscientific teaching, in 
order that it might appeal more forcefully to scholarly 
scientists. The motive was evidently good. Without 
entering upon a more critical analysis of their work here, 
we will apply Christ's rule of testing the merits of all 
teaching, by its fruits. Has modern criticism removed 
the difficulties from the minds of scientists, and won them 
to the Bible, or has its teaching undermined faith in the 
Bible? 

It is a remarkable fact that the criticism of to-day, as 
heard from the pulpit, is very similar to that which has 
been previously heralded by pantheists and out-and-out 
infidels. 

NEW THEOLOGY 

A writer who evidently has given some careful thought 
to the question has prepared the following summary 
statement of the result of the "new theology" in contrast: 
with old-fashioned Christianity: 



54 The Kingdom of God 

"A pantheistic god instead of a personal God. 

"A human saviour instead of a Divine Saviour. 

"Infallible scholarship instead of an infallible Bible. 

"Modern thought instead of a 'Thus^saith the Lord.' 

"A development of religious ideas from a human mind instead 

of a revelation from God. 
"The natural in all things, the supernatural in nothing. 
"Reformation instead of regeneration. 
"Culture instead of conversion. 

"A change of environment instead of a change of heart. 
"The energy of the flesh instead of prayer and faith. 
"Interest in the secular instead of zeal for religion." 



CRITICS THEORIES 

The following citation from the Methodist Review 
for March-April, 1891, page 265, by the editor, J. W. 
Mendenhall, D.D., LL.D., enumerates some of the 
theories that have been advanced at different times to dis- 
credit various books of the" Bible: 

"The extent to which theory has been applied to the 
date, composition, and authorship of the several books of 
the Bible is startling when viewed in its aggregate result. 
Without pretending to exhaust the list, we submit the 
following as our summary of the theories that have been 
invented respecting each book of the Bible since the rise 
of the Tubingen school, and as showing the untrust- 
worthiness of the results of the critics who assume to be 
investigators of the books. 

"As to Genesis, we record 16 theories; Exodus, 13; 
Leviticus, 22; Numbers, 8; Deuteronomy, 17; — total 
on Pentateuchal books, 76. As to Joshua, 10; Judges, 
7; Ruth, 4; 1 and 2 Samuel, 20; 1 and 2 Kings, 24; 
1 and 2 Chronicles, 17; Ezra, 14; Nehemiah, 11; Es- 
ther, 6; — total on historical books, 113. As to Job, 26; 
Psalms, 19; Proverbs, 24; Ecclesiastes, 21 ; Song of 
Solomon, 18; — total on poetical books, 108. As to 
Isaiah, 27; Jeremiah, 24; Lamentations, 10; Ezekiel, 15; 
Daniel, 22; — total on the greater prophetical books, 98. 



The Bible and Modern Criticism 55 

As to Hosea, 13; Amos, 15; Joel, 18; Obadiah, 9; 
Jonah, 14; Micah, 12; Nahum, 10; Habakkuk, 13; 
Zephaniah, 9; Haggai, 6; Zechariah, 14; Malachi, 11; 
— total on minor prophetical books, 144. Grand total 
of the theories respecting the Old Testament books, 539. 

"The work of the theorist as regards the New Testa- 
ment is equally comprehensive and instructive. 

"As to Matthew, we discover 7 theories; Mark, 10 j 
Luke, 9; John, 15; — total as to the gospels, 41. As to 
the Acts, 12. As to the epistles to the Romans, 15; 
1 and 2 Corinthians, 18; Galatians, 11; Ephesians, 8; 
Philippians, 8; Colossians, 12; 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 
9; 1 and 2 Timothy, 12 ; Titus, 6; Philemon, 4; He- 
brews, 8; — total as to Paul's epistles, in. As to James, 
5; 1 and 2 Peter, 7; 1 and 2 and 3 John, 13; Jude, 7; 
Revelation, 12; — total, 44. The number of theories ap- 
plied to the New Testament books is 208. Adding to 
539, we have a total of 747 theories applied to the Bib- 
lical books since 1850, or within forty years. Of the 
747 theories, 603 are defunct, and many of the remain- 
ing 144 are in the last stages of degeneracy and dissolu- 
tion. 

"It will assist the reader in estimating the work of 
the critics to remember that nearly one hundred theo- 
ries die annually, many of them never advancing beyond 
infancy, and others being stricken with leprosy the first 
time they have taken hold of the horns of the altar of 
the Lord. We have by no means recorded all the in- 
ventions of the critics since Bauer's day, but we have 
given enough to show that theory is the chief instru- 
ment of the critic. He does not always seek facts or 
truths, but is wedded to his hypothesis of the Biblical 
question. Of the large number of theories here given, 
no two of them agree, every one being distinct and sep- 
arate from all the others. We have little doubt if a 
correct renumeration of the theories that have been pro- 
claimed during the last forty years could be obtained, it 



56 The Kingdom of God 

would be found to exceed two thousand, for we sus- 
pended our examination long before the end had been 
reached. In these startling facts, the orthodoxist finds 
abundant reason for refusing to follow the leadership 
of men whose chief business is to contradict truth, fact, 
history, and the fundamental principles of the Chris- 
tian religion, with no stronger warrant than their own 
fancy or the limitations of their special education." 

No wonder The Christian Register for June, 1 891, 
should say: "Thomas Paine, though stigmatized and 
set aside as an infidel, finds reincarnation in the modern 
Biblical critic. ... It is interesting to find that with 
a different spirit, and with different tools, and bound 
by certain traditions from which Paine was free, the 
professors in our orthodox seminaries are doing again 
the work which Paine did." 

MODERN CRITICISM IS SCIENTIFIC INFIDELITY 

At a meeting of four hundred ministers, held in New 
York City, a clergyman who did not believe the mod- 
ern views of higher critics had taken occasion to collect, 
from infidel authors, a number of views now taught from 
the pulpit as "higher criticism," and presented the same 
before that body of clergymen as the modern view of the 
Bible as held by the ablest "higher critics." His pres- 
entation received the hearty endorsement of the min- 
isterial body, and was declared to be the ablest presen- 
tation of the modern view of Biblical exegesis that they 
had ever heard. One can imagine the chagrin of such a 
body of clergymen when informed that every criticism 
of the Bible that had been presented had been taken 
bodily from infidel works. Such incidents should be 
sufficient to enlighten honest inquirers after truth as to 
the tendency of modern higher criticism. 

"And once more, what rescued the church from the 
torpor and death of the negation of the eighteenth cen- 



The Bible and Modern Criticism 57 

tury? The deliverance came, not from philosophy or 
learning, not even from the works of able apologists 
like Butler, but from the tides of 

THE SPIRITUAL REVIVALS 

that swept over Britain, and were felt in other lands, 
under the preaching of such men as Whitefield and the 
Wesleys. This it was which gave evangelism the vic- 
tory once more over indifference and unbelief, and 
breathed the new breath of life into society which in- 
troduced the era of missions to the heathen, Bible dif- 
fusion, home evangelization, and the innumerable social 
reforms of the last century. It is to a like outpouring 
of the Spirit of God upon His church, and to the same 
divine energy manifesting itself in holy lives and prac- 
tical work, far more than to learned confutations, how- 
ever valuable these may be in their place, that we must 
look for the overthrow of the forms of unbelief that 
lift up their heads among us to-day. The owls vanish 
when the daylight reappears." — "The Bible Under 
Trial/' James Orr } pages 10, II. 

Christ's endorsement of the written word 

In Matt. 24:15, 16, Christ endorses the prophecy of 
Daniel in the strongest possible way. Upon its predic- 
tion, and the signs it presented, He urged immediate 
action, as though that prophecy were of unquestionable 
authority. In Luke 16:31, He made the sweeping state- 
ment concerning Moses and all the Prophets, that "if 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they 
be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." In this 
statement, He placed the word of God as reliable evi- 
dence, at least on an equality with such a miracle as 
raising the dead to life, causing that Word, including 
Moses and all the prophets, to stand forth as a mighty, 



58 The Kingdom of God 

living miracle of divine power. He commanded this 
same people to search the scriptures for evidence of the 
coming Messiah, rather than to look for miracles to 
confirm their faith when He should come. The Jews, 
who did not heed His instruction, are unbelieving to- 
day. John 5 :46. Herein lies a vital principle in the 
study of "higher criticism." If one part of the Bible 
is rejected, it opens the way for the rejection of the 
whole. He that deliberately offends in one point is 
guilty of all. 

Christ recognized man as a created being, according 
to the Bible account. He said, "Have ye not read, that 
he which made them at the beginning made them male 
and female?" Matt. 19:4. He accepted the record by 
Moses of the martyrdom of Abel. Matt. 23:35. He 
endorsed the story of the flood and Noah's ark, saying 
"As the days of Noah were," "until the day that Noah 
entered into the ark," "they were eating and drinking, 
. . . and knew not until the flood came, and took them 
all away; so shall the coming of the Son of man be." 
Matt. 24:37-39. He credited the story of Lot's wife, 
and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Luke 17:32. 
He corroborated the story of the fall of the "manna in 
the wilderness" (John 6:49); David's eating the show- 
bread (1 Sam. 21:6; Matt. 12:3, 4); the shutting up 
of heaven for three years and six months in the days 
of Elijah, in answer to prayer; the widow of Serepta; 
and the cleansing of Naaman the leper in the river 
Jordan (Luke 4:25-27). In the synagogue at Naz- 
areth, He read from the prophecy of Isaiah, and said, 
"This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Isa. 
61:1; Luke 4:18-23. He quoted from the last book in 
the Old Testament, "Behold, I send My messenger, and 
he shall prepare the way before Me. Mai. 3:1; Matt. 
11:10. In His conflict with Satan in the wilderness of 
temptation, He met and defeated the tempter with these 
thrusts of the sword of the Spirit, every one a quotation 



The Bible and Modern Criticism 59 

from Deuteronomy. Deut. 8:3; 6:13, 16. With other 
references too numerous to note in this chapter, He con- 
firmed the word of God as given in the Old Testament, 
and selected the authors of the Gospels, who were to be 
witnesses, after His ascension, to His teaching and min- 
istry. Christ's "higher criticism" on the book of Moses, 
the prophets, and the Psalms, has never yet appeared. 
On the contrary, He said, "O fools, and slow of heart 
to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Luke 
24:25. He was the Son of God as well as the Son of 
man; yet He gave universal endorsement to all three di- 
visions of the Old Testament Scriptures, and declared 
that the things "written in the law of Moses, and in 
the prophets, and in the Psalms," must be fulfilled. 
Luke 24:44. He stripped the last possible hope of en- 
during success from all classes of modern or ancient 
critics of the Word of God, by the assertion, "Every 
plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall 
be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. 

Eighteen hundred years ago it was a question of choos- 
ing between Christ and Barabbas. To-day it is a ques- 
tion of choice between Christ and "higher critics," who, 
by their criticisms, discredit God's word. 



PART III 

THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM 

CHAPTER VIII 

Physical Laws, of the Kingdom 

A/I ORAL laws appeal to the intellect and conscience 
and apply to intelligent creatures only. Physical 
laws apply to both animate and inanimate objects. In 
their application, apart from other laws, motives are not 
considered. They have to do with 

CAUSES AND EFFECTS, 

antecedents and consequences. Intelligence is cause, — 
law is effect. God is the first great cause of all natural 
law. "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on 
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- 
just." Matt. 5:45. These words of Christ reveal the 
fact that natural law, though operated directly from the 
throne of God, does not regard motives. 

Fire will burn a martyr as readily as it does a crim- 
inal. Floods destroy the property of Christians and sin- 
ners without discrimination. Drought consumes both 
alike. Cold freezes the missionary exposed to it as well 
as the outlaw. Sickness and death come upon all alike ; 
and the effects of sinful heredity are visited upon both 
classes, although physical law determines that a life of 
virtue tends to repair the defects of heredity, as an open- 
air life is beneficial to one with tubercular tendencies. 

60 



Physical Laws of the Kingdom 61 

Hence the extreme effect of sinful heredity to the third 
and the fourth generation is visited upon the haters of 
God, or those who disregard His law. In the third 
generation of a life of vice may be seen a tendency to 
insanity. In the fourth generation, idiocy is common. 
As in the operation of natural law, corn planted pro- 
duces corn, potatoes produce potatoes, so seeds of virtue 
sown produce after their kind. Accordingly in the 
spiritual realm, the Word sown in the heart so com- 
pletely changes the individual during one generation as 
to reflect God's image fully. "But we all, with open 
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even 
as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18. 

According to the same natural law in the spiritual 
realm, the trials of life are greatly lessened by beholding 
Jesus, and by looking forward by faith to the eternal 
reward. It was thus that Moses "endured, as seeing 
Him w 7 ho is invisible" (Heb. 11:24-27), and Abraham 
obeyed and endured all privations consequent upon a per- 
fectly surrendered Christian life. "For he looked for 
a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker 
is God." Heb. 11:10. Paul sums up the principle 
operating in the natural law of spiritual growth as fol- 
lows: "For all things are for your sakes, that the 
abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many 
redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint 
not; but though our outward man perish, yet the in- 
ward man is renewed day by day. For our light afflic- 
tion, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we 
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things 
which are not seen: for the things which are seen are 
temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 
2 Cor. 4:15-18. 

From these observations, it is clearly evident that 
though God is the Author of both physical and spiritual 



62 . The Kingdom of God 

law, He operates in harmony with them in all His re- 
lations, both to animate and inanimate nature. 

The minute detail of natural law in the infinitely 
small things, as well as its sublime majesty as seen in the 
movements of millions of suns and systems in the uni- 
verse, proclaims an all-powerful God of infinite wisdom 
as its Author. 

The most delicate cambric needle, placed under the 
microscope, appears rough and feathery, while the sting 
of the wasp appears perfectly smooth. Such is the con- 
trast between the works of God and the works of man, 
that man's imperfection appears in his most perfect work, 
while the minutest details of the work of God bear 
evidence of His perfection, wisdom, and power. 

NECESSITY OF LAW 

If we lack information concerning any portion of the 
kingdom of God, we may safely deduce from analogy 
sufficient evidence to know that all His created works 
are governed by law. 

Law is a necessity to the harmony and stability of the 
universe as a whole. Disorder is always destructive. 
Deranged action, which is the result of disobedience to 
law, must be overcome and destroyed; for there is no 
power or project that can withstand the all-forceful 
and universal operation of law. If a planet should break 
away from its sphere, its destruction would be sure. If 
ants, contrary to nature, should gather the pollen for 
their only winter store, they would starve, bees would 
become extinct, and fruit would perish from the earth. 

In case of a rabid dog, not only is the destruction of 
the dog necessary, but each animal bitten by him must 
be healed or exterminated. So in the transgression of 
moral law, either the sinner must be restored from sin, 
or he must die as its penalty requires. To exterminate 
Satan is not sufficient, but all who have been poisoned by 
t;he virus of sin through his deceptive influence must 



Physical Laws of the Kingdom 63 

either be recovered or die as the penalty of transgres- 
sion. 

NATURAL LAW REVEALS, THE CREATOR 

If a drop of water is taken from a stagnant pool and 
placed under the microscope, an almost infinite number 
of real, living, moving organisms can be seen. It has 
been estimated that "in a single drop of water, four 
thousand millions would have room to exercise at will." 

Dr. Burr says: "Another characteristic of nature, de- 
serving of notice, is the perfection of its details. The 
exquisite finish of nature in its minutest parts is about 
as wonderful as its vastness and variety. Scan that 
leaf. Examine the wing of that butterfly. Let the 
tinted and polished antennae of that moth glitter in the 
focus of your instrument. Subject to the most skillful 
notice of science and art the smallest veins of any animal 
or vegetable. Push the analysis just as far as possible, 
and submit that last visible minimum of organization 
in the crystalline lens of the cod, with its five millions 
of muscles and sixty thousand millions of teeth, to the 
most searching criticism of the superbest microscope. 
What exquisite details! What elaborate refinement of 
workmanship ! 

"In masterpieces of human painting, the main points 
only are cared for, while all the subordinate are too 
rude to bear close inspection. Not so with the works 
of nature. A real landscape you may analyze to your 
heart's content, and inspect its details as critically as eye, 
armored with lens, can do, without finding the work- 
manship growing less exquisite the further you push in- 
quiry. A real man — you may descend to the minutest 
particulars of his organization, and get as near its pri- 
mary elements as an Ehrenberg, with his superb instru- 
ments and practiced vision, can carry you, without finding 
the least falling off from that delicacy of execution which 
appears on the larger masses and outlines of the body." 



64 The Kingdom of God 



OBEDIENCE TO PHYSICAL LAWS 

It is a universally accepted hypothesis of science that 
law controls the operation of all force. The heavenly 
bodies are governed by law. The balancing of the plan- 
ets and their motions are all under the direction of law. 
The law that governs them is "the word of His power," 
called "gravitation." The balancing of the clouds is in 
conformity to law. Light, heat, and sound are all pro- 
duced in strict accord with the most exacting laws. All 
chemical combinations of the elements act in the same 
conformity to the law as the universe of planets. The 
heavenly bodies can no more choose their relations to 
the laws of gravity than they can solve problems in 
mathematics. Water, steam, electricity, and radium are 
subject to man's control only when he learns the secret 
of their laws and complies with their demands. The 
electric light or trolley current, misdirected, kills man in- 
stead of rendering him service. Water, which is a great 
blessing when rightly used, becomes an agent of destruc- 
tion when the lungs are filled with it. Gravitation, 
which holds the universe in poise, hurls a workman to 
death who accidentally loses his balance on a high scaf- 
fold. Thus may it be seen that physical laws disre- 
garded, cause death regardless of motives. Perfect obe- 
dience alone insures the harmony and safety of the uni- 
verse. 



CHAPTER IX 

Moral Laws of the Kingdom 

"LJ AVING briefly traced the kingdom of God from 
its establishment and its relation to physical laws, 
we may further consider it as related to 

A MORAL GOVERNMENT 

That there w T as originally implanted in man a moral 
nature is still clearly evident. "For when the Gentiles, 
which have not the law [the written law], do by nature 
the things contained in the law, these, having not the 
law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of 
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bear- 
ing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing 
or else excusing one another." Rom. 2:14, 15. 

From the first chapter of Romans, we learn that this 
was a moral law. Its violation led to all kinds of im- 
morality. The reason why men are in partial darkness 
to-day with reference to the law is, "because that, when 
they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither 
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, 
and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. 1:21. Man 
is therefore not left in doubt as to whether God in the 
beginning established a moral government. Since He 
is a moral Governor, justice demands that the law of 
His government be so plainly declared that all may 
know its requirements. 

To announce to the world that "the wages of sin is 
death" (Rom. 6:23), and that "whosoever committeth 

65 



66 The Kingdom of God 

sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgres- 
sion of the law" ( I John 3 14) , and then to proceed 
to hold men accountable for a morality in keeping with 
the requirements of that law, is absolute evidence that 
the law had been so plainly proclaimed that there could 
be no misunderstanding it. 

That God did reveal His law at the time of creation 
is unquestionable. "Where no law is, there is no trans- 
gression." Rom. 4:15. Since sin is the transgression 
of the law, and since there is no transgression without a 
law, it follows that wherever we see transgression, there 
is a law. When Satan sinned, therefore, he transgressed 
the law. In Ezek. 28:14, he is called "the anointed 
cherub that covereth." God says, "I have set thee so." 
"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou 
wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the 
multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst 
of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I 
will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God : 
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the 
midst of the stones of fire." Verses 15, 16. "Thou 
hast sinned" is God's reason for removing Satan from 
his position as covering cherub. This is evidence that 
God's moral law was proclaimed before the fall of the 
angels. 

Adam sinned. Paul says his sin was disobedience, 
"for as by one man's disobedience many were made sin- 
ners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made right- 
. eous." Rom. 5:19. To what was he disobedient? — to the 
I law; therefore Adam had a knowledge of the law of God's 
moral government. "For until the law sin was in the 
world: but sin is not imputed where there is no law. 
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even 
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of 
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that 
was to come." Verses 13, 14. The fact that sin was 
imputed from Adam to Moses proves the existence of 
God's moral law during that period. 

Why does Paul leave this argument with the days of 



Moral Laws of the Kingdom 67 

Moses? Why does he not pursue it through the history 
of Israel? The answer is given in verses 20, 21: 
"Moreover the law entered, that the offense might 
abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more 
abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so 
might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life 
by Jesus Christ our Lord." 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS GOD'S MORAL LAW 

In the days of Moses, the law was proclaimed under 
circumstances that leave no room for question. From that 
time, it was known as the Ten Commandments. 

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the 
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land 
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is 
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the 
earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor 
serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, 
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that 
love Me, and keep My commandments. 

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that 
taketh His name in vain. 

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six 
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy wprk: but the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it 
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy 
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: where- 
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

"Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days 



68 The Kingdom of God 

may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee. 

"Thou shalt not kill. 

"Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

"Thou shalt not steal. 

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh- 
bor. 

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt 
not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor 
his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything 
that is thy neighbor's." Ex. 20:1-17. 

"These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly 
in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, 
and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and He 
added no more. And He wrote them in two tables of 
stone, and delivered them unto me." Deut. 5 :22. 

This is a plain proclamation of the moral law by God 
Himself. It is the law of the kingdom as originally es- 
tablished and plainly proclaimed by the King. There 
is no excuse, therefore, for any intelligent man, with a 
Bible in his possession, for not knowing the law of 
God's moral government. 

All laws instituted before the fall of man were moral 
and natural laws. Ceremonial laws could have no place 
or mission until after the fall. The laws introduced 
before the fall, had only to do with man's moral rela- 
tions to God and his fellow man; and these relations 
were designed to be perpetual. Sin has in no way al- 
tered or lessened the sacredness and mission of this law, 
for that which was originally immoral has not ceased 
to be immoral. While God remains the unchangeable 
being He has declared Himself to be, the standard of 
moral government must remain. 

THE MORAL LAW AS MANIFEST IN THE TEACHING BY 
CHRIST 

Consider seriously Christ's application of the law of 
love, which is the law of the kingdom of God: "There- 



Moral Laws of the Kingdom 69 

fore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and 
the prophets." Matt. 7:12. A loftier principle was 
never enunciated in the application of any law than is 
here applied in declaring the character of the law of 
the kingdom of God. How comprehensively this law 
applies in our lives! It covers "all things" that we do. 
Every act of life is measured by the principle, treat every 
man, all the time, under all circumstances, as you would 
have him treat you all the time, under the same circum- 
stances. An infinite fountain of divine love and wis- 
dom is unsealed in this marvelous statement. 

This both God and Christ have done in applying the 
law of the kingdom since the entrance of sin. Christ 
actually exchanged places with the sinner. He took 
the burden of the transgressor's sins upon Himself, and 
gave to him, in exchange, His own righteousness as a 
free gift. He knew the weakness and inexperience of 
His newly created subjects. He did for them as He 
would wish done for Him were He in their stead. With 
that feeling, He stepped beneath the penalty of the sin- 
ner and set him free. 

Love could reach no higher standard. It was the su- 
preme act of love. Heaven was hushed, angels wept in 
silence, the earth trembled and quaked, beneath the dy- 
ing groans of such a Conqueror. But in that sublime 
act, death was swallowed up in victory. It was the 
hour of death's defeat. Henceforth it was to be obedi- 
ent to the command of its Conqueror, until it is ban- 
ished from the universe forever. God was suffering in 
His Son's sorrow, humiliation, and shame. It was God 
who sent His Son to exchange places with sinners and 
bear their penalty. "For God so loved the world, that 
He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." John 3:16. Heaven could do no more. Its 
greatest sacrifice had been made. Its sinless Chief had 
given His life to restore the lives of His unfortunate sub- 
jects. 



70 The Kingdom of God 

In that act, a deeper note of love than earth had known 
was sounded. All this had been done for enemies, un- 
worthy of such treatment. Rom. 5:10. Yet God di- 
rected that no word of censure should be heard for those 
who so undeservingly required such a sacrifice on their 
behalf. "For God sent not His Son into the world to 
condemn the world; but that the world through Him 
might be saved." John 3:17. No wonder that John, 
stirred to the utmost by beholding this unparalleled de- 
votion of the love of God in His efforts to restore to 
sonship His fallen children, should exclaim, "Behold, 
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, 
that we should be called the sons of God." 1 John 3:1. 

The character is never fully determined until life's 
test is over. The'true estimate of the life of the peni- 
tent thief could not be made until after he had made 
upon the cross his final choice, which decided his eternal 
destiny. So Christ's character was never fully revealed 
until the last expression of the law of kindness was wrung 
from His heart's deep love for His enemies, "Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what they do," and this 
when they were engaged in the fiendish act of torture 
during His last hour of suffering on account of their 
sins. No such words of kindness, or such a sacrifice for 
others, had ever been heard or seen in all the universe 
of God. It was the climax of a life which in its very 
act revealed the character of the law of God's kingdom. 
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for his friends." But here is one who is 
absolutely unobligated to sinners on account of any re- 
sponsibility with them in their sinful choice, taking their 
place, while they rail upon Him as enemies, and cruelly 
inflict the death penalty. It is only in the light of this 
closing hour of that noble life, that the law of God's 
kingdom can be fully read. 



CHAPTER A 

Consequences Inherent in Law 

(~^ OD is love." His law is therefore founded in love. 
^When the Lawgiver was on earth, a lawyer asked 
Him, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" 
He did not hesitate, but openly announced : "Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 
Matt. 22:36-40. This is not the introduction of a new 
law, but a concise statement of what is in the law of 
the kingdom of God. All of the law and the prophets 
hangs upon these two principles, — love to God, and love 
to man. 

These are inherent principles in the law, which, when 
obeyed, insure peace, happiness, and life, but disobeyed, 
bring misery and death. "Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." Rom. 13:10. And love is the basis of all true 
happiness. The Lord did not give a law in the begin- 
ning because He desired to control His subjects arbitra- 
rily. He gave the law of love because it was funda- 
mental to the happiness of His children. Hatred results 
in wretchedness, sorrow, and death. Love insures hap- 
piness and life. No one ever became truly happy while 
hating another. One may, from no other cause than 
hatred of others, become wretched, emaciated, and ill. 
"A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rot- 
tenness of the bones." Prov. 14:30. 

7i 



72 The Kingdom of God 

The law of love did not become the basis of happiness 
because God proclaimed it to be the law of His king- 
dom. He proclaimed it the law of His kingdom be- 
cause it was the basis of happiness. Written law is the 
statement of proper relations of parties embraced in its 
scope. In the law of the kingdom of God, the first 
four precepts particularly present the proper relations 
of subjects to their Sovereign; the last six, the proper re- 
lations of subjects to each other. Love fulfills the en- 
tire law. One who loves God will not break any of 
the first four precepts, and thus invade the rights of 
his King. One who loves his fellow men will not in- 
vade their rights by breaking any of the last six com- 
mands. 

Justice demands unqualifiedly that obedient subjects 
to such a law be rewarded, and disobedient ones pun- 
ished. That this is the innate character of the law of 
the kingdom of God is manifested in its relation to the 
Son of God when He voluntarily stepped beneath the 
penalty of man's disobedience. Three times, in that last 
dark hour of suffering while facing the doom of the 
lost, He piteously pleads, "O My Father, if it be pos- 
sible, let this cup pass from Me." But having taken the 
place of the transgressor before the law, He could not 
avert the penalty for sin without disannulling the law, 
and it must fall upon Him as upon a transgressor. If 
there had been any plan by which the inherent penalty 
for disobedience could be withheld, and the dignity of 
the law maintained, it would have been produced in re- 
sponse to the heart-rending plea of One who was inno- 
cent in Himself, but a voluntary victim because of others' 
guilt. No other plan was known. Calvary is God's 
everlasting testimony to a fallen world that the law 
of His kingdom must eternally endure. Paul, viewing 
Christ dying upon the cross under the penalty of sin as 
a transgressor, said: "Do we then make void the law 



Consequences Inherent in Law 73 

through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." 
Rom. 3:31. 

But there was another side to the life of Christ on 
earth. He was perfectly obedient, during His entire 
life for man, as well as obedient in death to the demands 
of the law upon transgressors. "And being found in 
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 
2:8. 

Christ recognized the demands of the law for perfect 
obedience, and the penalty of death upon trangressors, 
to be equally just. It is therefore very apparent that 
both rewards and penalties are inherent in that govern- 
ment of which the law of love is the rule; and further, 
that whatever rewards are offered are in recognition of 
obedience to the law. Ps. 19:11. Wherever sin is im- 
puted and punished, that course is a clear testimony to 
the binding obligation of the law. "For until the law 
sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there 
is no law." Rom. 5:13. 

Since the kingdom of God was established, there has 
never been a period when the law of the kingdom has 
not held dominion. Time, place, or circumstances can 
never make necessary a change in it. 

In the final execution of penalties for transgression, 
and the final distribution of rewards, every man will re- 
ceive according to his voluntary relation to God's di- 
vine law. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for 
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For 
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup- 
tion; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit 
reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well- 
doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." 
Gal. 6:7-9. 

In the beginning, it was possible for angels and man 
to live the law of the kingdom inviolate, and thus for- 



74 The Kingdom of God 

ever to remain innocent, and receive as the reward an 
endless life in perfect peace and boundless joy. But "the 
wages of sin is death." Inherent in the law are both 
life and death. Deut. 4:1, 2; 5:33; 8:19; 11:26-28. 
Obey and live, disobey and die; the consequences, good 
and evil, are clearly placed before the subjects of the 
kingdom. But to the transgressor, "the commandment, 
which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." 
Rom. 7:10. 

When God called the prophet Jeremiah down to the 
potter's house to reveal to him His power in shaping 
character and fixing destinies, He informed him that the 
nation would be rewarded or punished upon the basis of 
voluntary obedience or disobedience. "At what instant 
I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a 
kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy 
it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn 
from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought 
to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak 
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build 
and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey 
not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith 
I said I would benefit them." Jer. 18:7-10. God is 
here represented as the great Potter, molding the clay. 
But He most emphatically declares that in molding and 
fashioning characters, and executing judgment which fixes 
destinies, He limits Himself to the inherent relations of 
rewards and penalties in the law. As the matter molds 
and shapes the clay in harmony with the inherent nat- 
ural law governing it, so are fixed the destinies of na- 
tions and individuals according to their obedience or dis- 
obedience to law. He is not an indifferent spectator to 
the operation of His moral law, but He is momentarily 
its Operator. The subject's relation to the law controls 
His ministration of the law of His kingdom. There 
is therefore nothing arbitrary in God's administration of 



Consequences Inherent in Law 75 

the law of His kingdom. He "will render to every 
man according to his deed." Rom. 2:6. 

To transgress its moral precepts voluntarily is to be 
under the law and subject to its penalty. Such are, by 
the law, denied admission to the kingdom of God. Those 
who cherish the fruits of the Spirit will find the gates 
of the kingdom wide open to welcome them as its sub- 
jects. Gal. 5:18-23. 



CHAPTER XI 

Laws Infallible and Eternal in Character 

*Tp HE character of a kingdom is indicated by its laws, 
A and the laws represent the character required of its 
subjects. For this reason, in the study of the kingdom 
of God, a study of its laws is of first importance. 

God's ways and works are perfect (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 
18:30), His character is holy (1 Peter 1:16), and His 
throne is founded upon justice (Ps. 89:14). 

The psalmist emphasized this view in the statement, 
"The law of the Lord is perfect." Ps. 19:7. The apostle 
to the Gentiles testified, "Wherefore the law is holy, and 
the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 
7:12. God is also a spiritual being, and He requires 
that those who worship Him shall "worship Him in 
spirit and in truth." John 4:24. He must therefore 
promulgate a spiritual law commanding worship. This 
He has done. "For we know that the law is spiritual: 
but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7:14. 

In these passages is revealed the axiomatic truth that 
a perfect, holy, just, and spiritual God has given a law 
in keeping with His character as the law of His king- 
dom. For an infallible God to give a fallible law as 
the great constitution of His kingdom, would be incon- 
sistent. Such an act would belie His wisdom and jus- 
tice. 

The fact that God made angels and men upright in 
the beginning is evidence that as He created them, so 
He designed them to live. His law must present a 
standard that requires the same upright life, or it is 

76 



Laws Infallible and Eternal in Character 77 

incongruous with the workmanship of its Author. The 
fact that some of His creatures fell from their high estate, 
in no way altered the character of God, or changed the 
nature of His laws. They remained immutable and 
eternal, but transgressors must reap the results of diso- 
bedience. God's right to govern lies in His authorship, 
creatorship, ownership. He was not so unwise as to 
establish a moral law that would have to be altered in 
order to meet contingencies in the administration of 
His government. He based every precept of the great 
constitution of His government upon eternal principles. 
The law is still "holy, and just, and good," although 
subjects have become "carnal, sold under sin." 

THE LAW ETERNALLY DEMANDS HOLINESS 

At the time the law of the kingdom of God was 
proclaimed from Sinai, the Lord said, "Now therefore, 
if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, 
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all 
people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto 
Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Ex. 
19:5, 6. In the twentieth chapter follows the proclama- 
tion, by the King, of the law of Ten Commandments as 
the law of His kingdom, "the royal law." The en- 
trance of sin and the degradation of subjects has not in 
the slightest degree lessened the requirements of the law. 
The standard maintained in the law remains unchanged. 
A God "with whom is no variableness neither shadow of 
turning" (James 1:17), can no more alter the great 
constitution of His kingdom than He can change His 
own character; hence He declares, "My covenant will I 
not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My 
lips." Ps. 89 134. The Ten Commandments, written 
with the finger of God on two tables of stone, were the 
words which had proceeded from His lips in the audi- 
ence of the people; "and He added no more." Deut. 
5:22. 



78 The Kingdom, of God 

When Christ came, His whole mission was the proc- 
lamation of the gospel of the kingdom. In proclaiming 
it, He must of necessity proclaim the law of the king- 
dom. This He did in the most emphatic announcement, 
"It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle 
of the law to fail." Luke 16:17. "Think not that I 
am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not 
come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto 
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." 
Matt. 5:17, 18. 

This is the Lawgiver announcing in a portion of His 
kingdom, where rebellion has swept every subject into 
transgression, that the dominion of the law remains un- 
changed in every "tittle." In verses 21 and 27, He 
quotes two precepts, that all may know that the law to 
which He refers as the law of His kingdom is the Ten 
Commandments; and in verse 19, He draws His conclu- 
sion in terms that not only a jurist, but even a child, 
familiar with the meaning of law, can understand : 
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least com- 
mandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called 
the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall 
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the 
kingdom of heaven." He did not set His disciples to 
teaching the abolition of the law. On the contrary, He 
emphasized its unaltered perpetuity, in the strongest and 
simplest terms that human language could express. Ig- 
norance of its meaning is therefore inexcusable. 

James, in like manner, speaks of the same "royal" or 
kingly law, quoting the same commands used by the 
Master as the basis for his reasoning (James 2:8, 11), 
and concludes with the statement, "Whosoever shall 
keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is 
guilty of all." Verse 10. "So speak ye, and so do, as 
they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." Verse 12. 
The judgment settles all cases for eternity. The same 



Laws Infallible and Eternal in Character 79 

law by which all will be judged, is the standard by which 
Loyal subjects will live eternally. Restoration to the 
kingdom of glory, beyond the Judgment, must be by 
acquittal in compliance with the same law for the trans- 
gression of ^vhich subjects were originally expelled as 
rebels against the government. 

In view of the infallibility and durability of God's 
law, Solomon, writing by inspiration of God, concludes 
his book of Ecclesiastes with the solemn appeal to all 
mankind : "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole mat- 
ter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is 
the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work 
into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be 
good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13, 14. 



PART IV 

A CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW THE KINGDOM 
THE NATURE AND DESTINY OF REBELS 

CHAPTER XII 

Satan's Rebellion and its Results 

the risk of sin 

*1p HE creation of free moral intelligent beings involved 
the possibility of sin. That God faced that prob- 
lem is evident, since from the beginning, He gave the 
freedom of choice to all, but gave warning against diso- 
bedience. Great as was that risk, it is shared still by 
every parent who brings a child into the world to satisfy 
the longing of parental love. The child may go wrong; 
but the parents take the risk, that they may experience 
the joy of parenthood. In creating intelligent beings, 
God must risk disobedience, with all its train of evil, 
or be served by automatons with no more character than 
machines. In enforced obedience, the act would be His, 
not theirs; hence they could develop no individual char- 
acter. 

He who saw the end from the beginning knew that His 
plan would succeed. Isa. 46:10. Although sin might enter, 
yet beyond the tears, the heartaches, the strife and death, 
which permission of His plan would bring for a brief 
space, He saw a redeemed host joining the myriads in 
unfallen worlds in ascribing glory, honor, thanksgiving, 

80 



Satan s Rebellion and Its Results 81 

and praise to their Creator and Redeemer throughout 
endless ages. 

LUCIFER A COVERING CHERUB 

Places were assigned to all subjects where they could 
serve the interests of God's kingdom best, and where all 
would find their highest pleasure. God set Lucifer next 
to Christ as a covering cherub. Ezek. 28:14. Between 
the covering cherubim, God sat upon His throne, to 
administer the affairs of His kingdom. Ps. 99:1. Luci- 
fer was honored by receiving the highest position of any 
created being. For a period, all responded to the love 
of God, in love fulfilled His holy law; and anthems of 
harmonious praise poured forth from every part of the 
inhabited universe. 

lucifer's rebellion and the entrance of sin 

Having been placed second only to Christ, Lucifer 
stood in the immediate presence of God. He occupied 
the highest position he had been made capable of filling. 
But as Christ occupied a higher place, there was a test of 
character in Lucifer's relation to the throne of God. 
Opening his heart to the suspicion that God had not 
done the best thing for him in assigning him his position 
in the universe, his heart became lifted up in pride, and 
he sought to exalt himself to a position equal to that 
of the Creator. That this covering cherub was a created 
being, that he was created perfect, that the spirit of 
pride which led to his desire for supremacy caused the 
entrance of sin and its consequent penalty, are all plainly 
told by the prophet Ezekiel, who introduces him under 
the figure of the king of Tyrus. 

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, say- 
ing, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king 
of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; 



82 The Kingdom of God 

Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect 
in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; 
every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, 
and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, 
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: 
the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was 
prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have 
set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; 
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the. 
stones of fire. 

"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that 
thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By 
the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the 
midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: there- 
fore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of 
God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from 
the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted 
up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wis- 
dom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the 
ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may be- 
hold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the 
multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy 
traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst 
of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to 
ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that be- 
hold thee. All they that know thee among the people 
shall be astonished at thee : thou shalt be a terror, and 
never shalt thou be any more." Ezek. 28:11-19. 

A CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW GOD'S GOVERNMENT 

This revolt against God's method of handling the af- 
fairs of His kingdom led to open rebellion against the 
government of God. Selfishness was Lucifer's first act 
of secession. The next step was feigned reformation of 
that government, followed by forming a conspiracy for 



Satan s Rebellion and Its Results 83 

its overthrow. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O 
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to 
the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou 
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I 
will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will 
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides 
of the north : I will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; 
I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought 
down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Isa. 14:12-15. 

THE RESULTS 

Satan's rebellion brought a spirit of disaffection into 
the universe. It also brought in a spirit of seeking posi- 
tion for self-glory instead of occupying the position of 
greatest service for others. It introduced sophistry and 
fraud instead of fair and open presentation of truth. It 
introduced flattery as an artful influence to lead others 
to join in a confederacy of evil. Satan thus sought, 
through misrepresentation, to cast reflections upon the 
law of God, and to question His wisdom and love. 

SATAN CAST OUT OF HEAVEN 

For these reasons, after all that infinite love could do 
for Satan's recovery, he was removed from his position 
as covering cherub, and "cast" "as profane out of the 
mountain of God." Ezek. 28:16. After Christ had' 
done all that could be done to recover fallen angels, they 
were finally and forever removed from their heavenly 
home. "There was war in heaven: Michael and His 
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought 
and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place 
found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was 
cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, 
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into 
the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Rev. 



84 The Kingdom of God 

12:7-9. It required time to unmask the' sophistries of 
Satan before the intelligent host of free angels sufficiently 
that they might consistently determine the relation they 
should sustain to the controversy which had been forced 
upon them by Satan's rebellion. Although God, from the 
beginning, knew the changed character of Lucifer, as 
with satanic zeal he led all who would join him in re- 
bellion against the government of heaven, He consid- 
ered that angels required time to gather from its results 
evidence of the character of Satan's rebellion. For this 
reason, and because God would do all that was possible 
to save Lucifer and his associates, death, as the penalty 
of sin, was not inflicted at the time of their rebellion. 
God deferred their execution until they had every pos- 
sible opportunity for salvation, and their confederacy 
of evil had borne sufficient fruit to reveal to all sub- 
jects of His kingdom the true nature of sin. All had 
opportunity to see His character in contrast with that of 
the leader of the rebellion against moral law. 

God's course in removing fallen angels from heaven 
was the least that He could do and maintain a proper 
administration. To make no difference between trans- 
gressors and obedient subjects, in a case of such delib- 
erate rebellion, while giving time and opportunity for 
the universe to decide upon the justice of His dealings with 
rebels, might impress them that He regarded disobedi- 
ence as a slight offense. 

But the final judgment will vindicate the character 
of a just and loving God. Satan and his rebellious fol- 
lowers will meet the full penalty of their transgressions. 
A loyal universe will approve, and the period of oppor- 
tunity for choice and test will have passed forever. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Man's Apostasy and its Results 

A FTER Satan had entered upon his career of rebel- 
^7 lion, he first sought, in the most insidious way, to in- 
duce angels to join him, ostensibly to reform the gov- 
ernment of God, but really to exalt himself. Many of 
the angels deliberately chose to follow this artful de- 
ceiver. - 

Nor was the conflict confined to the angels, for God 
made man as free as all other created beings throughout 
His vast universe. All must choose, in this crisis, be- 
tween loyalty to God and loyalty to Satan. 

a covert attack 

Satan did not come to man with flourish of trumpets 
and a demand for surrender. He posed as a benefactor. 
God had faithfully warned man not to eat of the fruit 
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan, know- 
ing that man had been informed of his apostasy, did 
not attempt to lead him into rebellion by personally ap- 
pearing to him. He chose a beautiful, glittering serpent 
— not the wriggling, creeping serpent of our day, upon 
which a special curse rests, but one of the most fascinat- 
ing creatures. Through this medium, stationed in the 
forbidden tree, Satan spoke to Eve. Startled to hear 
the creature speak in a language intelligible, yet charmed 
by its beauty, she turned aside to converse with it, and 
tarried near the very tree that God had cautioned the 
innocent pair in Eden to avoid. 

85 



86 The Kingdom of God 

THE STORY OF MAN'S APOSTASY 

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of 
the field which the Lord God had made. And he said 
unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat 
of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto 
the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 
garden : but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, 
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent 
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God 
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree 
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, 
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of 
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her hus- 
band with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them 
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; 
and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves 
aprons." Gen. 3:1-7. 

Paul says, "And Adam was not deceived, but the 
woman being deceived was in the transgression." 1 Tim. 
2:14. Eve was deceived by sophistry that appealed to 
her pride and vanity. To be as gods, knowing evil as 
well as good, was the deceptive prospect which appealed 
to her. That God was unjust in withholding a knowl- 
edge of evil, seemed to her -plausible. Could she have 
unveiled the future, and beheld the anarchy, strife, de- 
bauchery, crime and sorrow that were to result from a 
knowledge of evil, she would have blessed God that He 
had veiled such knowledge. 

Through deception, Eve was led to partake of the 
forbidden fruit, and thus take her stand on the side of 
the leader of the rebellion against the government of 
God. Adam, thinking that through her transgression, 
she must be separated from him, and the joys of her 



Mans Apostasy and Its Results 87 

companionship would be lost forever, hesitated in his 
loyalty to God while debating if it was not his duty to 
cast his lot with his hitherto loving consort. Unde- 
ceived, he finally chose to follow her in transgression. 
Immediately the halo of light which had hitherto robed 
the innocent pair as it did Moses and Elias on the Mount 
of Transfiguration, disappeared. When God, whose love 
for man was still unchanged, sought them, in fear they 
shrank from His presence. When the Lord asked 
whether they had eaten of the forbidden tree, Adam at 
once admitted his guilt, but inferentially placed the blame 
upon God by saving, "The woman whom Thou gavest to 
be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." 
Instead of making a full confession of his sin, he sought 
to excuse himself for having gone wrong. 

Eve in like manner attempted to fix the blame upon 
the serpent, and indirectly upon God for having placed 
the serpent in the garden. Her logic was that morally 
accountable beings would always be good if they were 
never assailed by a tempter. That God accepted no 
excuse for sin, that He admitted of no apology which 
sought to relieve transgressors because they had been 
confronted by a tempter, is shown in the fact that they 
were sentenced to death, driven from the garden, and 
the earth was placed under a curse. Gen. 3:16-24. 

The first result of man's apostasy was the shock 
of its recoil upon his moral nature. He had fallen under 
sin. He was undone and lost. A reaction had taken 
place in his soul, which caused him to regard with fear 
his loving Sovereign. By the act of transgression, he 
had desecrated and mocked the law of love, and his 
moral nature died of the deadly wound inflicted upon it 
in that unholy act. His own verdict, in advance of 
God's, declared him fallen and undone. 

The fall was not occasioned by the violation of a mere 
arbitrary command concerning eating the fruit of the 
forbidden tree. That command involved the moral ques- 



88 The Kingdom of God 

tion of loyalty to God. Gen. 3:1.1. His act involved 
the race of mankind. This is recognized by Paul in 
the statement, "By one man's disobedience many were 
made sinners." Rom. 5, 19. In the transgression of 
Adam, the race had fallen. 

The malicious spirit of Satan appeared in striking con- 
trast to the beneficent character of Christ when in love 
He died to save the lost. Until the cross, loyal angels 
did not fully discern the reasons for removing Satan 
from his position in heaven, and depriving him of the 
privilege of associating with them. The time had now 
come when his character stood revealed before the uni- 
verse. Every loyal angel now fully understood his de- 
ceptive purpose. Then "I heard a loud voice saying in 
heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the 
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: 
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which ac- 
cused them before our God day and night." Rev. 12:10. 
The original condition of the kingdom of God was re- 
stored in heaven. The battle had been fought, the vic- 
tory won there, and the rebellious impostors fully un- 
derstood that they were forever removed from the sym- 
pathy of the heavenly beings. Not a loyal angel would 
ever consider it right for Satan to share with the loyal 
in the privileges of the universe. 

Satan was the more enraged when he saw that he had 
lost in the conflict at the cross. That his loss embittered 
him toward the loyal subjects of the kingdom on earth 
is plainly stated in Rev. 12:12: "Therefore rejoice, ye 
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the in- 
habiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is 
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he 
knoweth that he hath but a short time." Entirely ex- 
cluded from heaven, he would do his worst to destroy 
God's loyal subjects on earth. "And the dragon was 
wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the 
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of 



Mans Apostasy and Its Results 89 

God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Verse 17. 
Foreseeing that this fiendish onslaught awaited His dis- 
ciples, Jesus taught them to pray daily: "Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." 
Matt. 6:10. The earthly conflict is not yet finished; 
but Satan knows that his time is short, and the disciples 
should know that their prayers for the restoration of the 
earthly kingdom will soon be answered. 2 Peter 2:2-4. 
Eternity will therefore demonstrate the love and wisdom 
of God in creating intelligent beings free to make their 
own choice of kingdom and king. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Man's Mortality 

HPHROUGH sin, man lost his place in the kingdom 
A of God, and became subject to death. He is there- 
fore mortal. If he were not, he could not die. Im- 
mortality cannot die. One might as well speak of the 
life that never lives as of the death that never dies. So 
generally is the term "mortal" applied to death, that 
the world's death rate is called its mortality. This is uni- 
versally admitted in practical life; why not in theology? 
When man was made in the beginning, he did not 
receive an immortal soul. This is the Bible record: 
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7. It does 
not say that the Lord breathed into man's nostrils an 
"immortal soul." Man was a soul before the breath of 
life was given. He then became a "living soul." Be- 
fore, he was a lifeless soul. The breath of life did not 
give man a soul, much less an immortal soul. The fact 
that as soon as the Lord had made man, He informed him 
that in the day when he should eat of the fruit of the 
tree of knowledge of good and evil, he should die (Gen. 
2:7), leaves no room to question that the real man, with 
whom the Lord held an account, was subject to life or 
death, according to his choice. In Gen. 3 122-24, we 
are informed that as soon as man had sinned, the Lord 
drove him from the Garden of Eden, lest he should eat 
of the tree of life, and live forever. If he had been 

90 



Mans Mortality 91 

made immortal to begin with, he would have lived for- 
ever, whether he ate of the tree of life or not. 

The fifth chapter of Genesis is a commentary on 
man's mortality. Throughout the chapter, the history 
of each man closes with the brief obituary, "And he 
died." In Job 4:17 we read, "Shall mortal man be 
more just than God?" And in Rom. 2:7, man is in- 
structed to seek for immortality. Would he be in- 
structed to seek for something he already possessed as a 
birthright? Paul further informs us that when the 
resurrection comes, at the last day, then "this mortal 
must put on immortality." 1 Cor. 15:53. And in 
1 Tim. 6:15, 16, he declares th^t God, "the King of 
kings," "only hath immortality." 

From these texts, it is plain that the theory of the 
natural immortality of the soul is a mistaken view. Since 
God only has immortality, He only can bestow it. It 
is therefore certain that since "by the appearing of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and 
hath brought life and immortality to light through the 
gospel" (2 Tim. 1 no) ; only those who secure immor- 
tality through Christ will ever obtain it. Hence Paul 
emphatically declares that only "to them who by patient 
continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and 
immortality" will eternal life be given. Rom. 2:7. All 
who would obtain it must "fight the good fight of faith," 
and "lay hold on eternal life." I Tim. 6:12. And this 
applies to the soul as well as to the body. For, says 
James, "He which converteth the sinner from the error 
of his way, shall save a soul from death." James 5 :20. 

John Milton, poet and statesman, bears the following 
testimony on the question of the non-immortality of the 
soul: 

"The visible creation comprises the material universe, 
and all that is contained therein; and more especially the 
human race. The creation of the world in general, and 
of its individual parts, is related in Genesis I. It is 



92 i The Kingdom of God 

also described in Job 26:7, etc., and 38, and in various 
passages of the Psalms and prophets — Ps. 33:6-9, 14; 
148:5; Prov. 8:26, etc.; Amos 4:13; 2 Peter 3:5. Pre- 
viously, however, to the creation of man, as if to inti- 
mate the superior importance of the work, the Deity 
speaks like a man deliberating. Gen. 1 :26 : 'God said, 
Let Us make man in Our image, after Our own like- 
ness.' So that it was not the body alone that was then 
made, but the soul of man also (in which our likeness to 
God principally consists), which precludes us from at- 
tributing preexistence to the soul which was then formed 
— a groundless notion sometimes entertained, but refuted 
by Gen. 2:7: 'God formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; 
thus man became a living soul.' Job 32:8: 'There is 
a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty 
giveth them understanding.' Nor did God merely breathe 
that spirit into man, but molded it in each individual, 
and infused it throughout, enduing and embellishing it 
with its proper faculties. Zech. 12:1: He 'formeth the 
spirit of man within him.' 

"We may understand, from other passages of Scrip- 
ture, that when God infused the breath of life into man, 
what man thereby received was not a portion of God's 
essence, or a participation of the divine nature, but that 
measure of the divine virtue or influence which was com- 
mensurate to the capabilities of the recipient. For it 
appears from Ps. 104:29, 30, that He infused the breath 
of life into other living beings also: 'Thou takest away 
their breath, they die. . . . Thou sendest forth Thy 
spirit, they are created;' whence we learn that every 
living thing receives animation from one and the same 
source of life and breath; inasmuch as when God takes 
back to Himself that spirit or breath of life, they cease 
to exist. Eccl. 3:19: 'They have all one breath.' Nor 
has the word 'spirit' any other meaning in the sacred 
writings, but that breath of life which we inspire, or the 



Mans Mortality 93 

vital or sensitive or rational faculty, or some action or 
affection belonging to those faculties. 

"Man having been created after this manner, it is 
said, as a'consequence, that 'man became a living soul;' 
whence, it may be inferred (unless we had rather take 
the heathen writers for our teachers respecting the na- 
ture of the soul) that man is a living being, intrinsically 
and properly one and individual, not compound or sep- 
arable, not, according to the common opinion, made up 
and framed of two distinct and different natures, as of 
soul and body, but that the whole man is soul, and the 
soul man, that is to say, a body, or individual substance, 
animated, sensitive, and rational; and that the breath of 
life was neither part of the divine essence, nor was it 
the soul itself, but as it were the inspiration of some 
divine virtue fitted for the exercise of life and reason, 
and infused into the organic body; for man himself, the 
whole man, when finally created, is called in express 
terms 'a living soul.' Hence the word used in Genesis 
to signify soul, is interpreted by the apostle, I Cor. 15:45, 
'animal.' Again, all the attributes of the body are as- 
signed in common to the soul : the touch, Lev. 5 :2, 'If 
a soul touch any unclean thing;' the act of eating, Lev. 
7:18, 20, 'The soul that eateth of it shall bear his in- 
iquity,' 'The soul that eateth of the flesh;' and in other 
places, hunger, Prov. 13:25; 27:7, 'To the hungry soul 
every bitter thing is sweet;' thirst, Prov. 25:25, 'As 
cold waters to a thirsty soul,' Isa. 29:8; capture, 1 Sam. 
24:11, 'Thou huntest my soul to take it;' Ps. 7:5, 'Let 
the enemy persecute my soul and take it.' 

"Where we speak of the body as a mere senseless stock, 
there the soul must be understood as signifying either 
the spirit, or its secondary faculties, the vital or sensi- 
tive faculty for instance. Thus it is often distinguished 
from the spirit as from the body itself. Luke 1:46, 47; 
1 Thess. 5:23, 'Your whole spirit and soul and body;' 
Heb. 4:12, 'To the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.' 



94 ' The Kingdom of God 

But that the spirit of man should be separate from the 
body so as to have a perfect and intelligent existence, inde- 
pendently of it, is nowhere said in Scripture, and the 
doctrine is evidently at variance both with nature and 
reason, as will be shown more fully hereafter. For the 
word 'soul' is applied to every kind of living being; 
Gen. 1 130, 'Every beast of the earth . . . wherein there 
is life (Hebrew, 'a living soul'). Gen. 7:22, 'All in whose 
nostrils was the breath of life [Hebrew, 'living soul'], 
of all that was in the dry land, died.' Yet it is never 
inferred, from these expressions, that the soul exists sep- 
arate from the body in any of the brute creation." — 
"State of the Dead" chapter 1, pages 1-4. 

Living soul, "nephesh chaiyah, a general term to ex- 
press all creatures endued with animal life, in any of 
its infinitely varied gradations, from the half-reasoning 
elephant down to the stupid potto, or lower still, to the 
polyp." — Dr. Adam Clarke, notes of Gen. 1 :24- 

From the "Appendix" to "The Companion Bible," 
part 1, published by Henry Froude, Oxford University, 
pp. 19-21, I take the following comprehensive statement 
giving the original and translation of every scripture ref- 
erence to the word "soul" to be found in the "Hebrew 
Old Testament." This is a work of great scholarship, 
and absolutely free from theological bias: 

The word nephesh occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Old Testa- 
ment. Each occurrence is noted in the margin, but it will be 
useful for the Bible student to have a complete list. 

In the A.V. and R.V. it is translated "soul" 472 times, while 
in the other 282 places it is represented by forty-four different 
words or phrases. In fifty-three of these places there is a 
marginal rendering which calls attention to the fact that the 
word is "nephesh," while in 229 passages the English reader 
has hitherto been left in ignorance of the fact. The English 
word "soul" is in every occurrence the rendering of the Hebrew 
nephseh, except in Job 30:15 and Isa. 57:16 See the notes. The 
time has come to "open the book," and let it speak for itself. 
Henceforth, every one who uses The Companion Bible will have 
complete information as to the facts, and can use it in detejv 



Mans Mortality 95 

mining his definitions, making his own classifications, and formu- 
lating his doctrines as to the Biblical use of the word. 

Though, with these two exceptions, the English word "soul" 
always represents the Hebrew nephesh, nephesh is not always 
translated "soul." 

This Appendix will exhibit all the varieties of translation; 
and, while it is not intended to teach either Theology or Psy- 
chology, it will give such information as will enable every 
Bible reader to form his own views and come to his own con- 
clusions on an important subject, about which there is such 
great controversy. 

This can be done only by giving every occurrence of the 
Hebrew word nephesh. 

Each occurrence is noted in the margin of The Companion 
Bible; but it is well to present a complete, separate, and classi- 
fied list of the recognized Lexical usages of the word ; and the 
reader will be left to form his own judgment as to how far the 
following classification is correct. 

The usage of the word nephesh by the Holy Spirit in the 
Word of God is the only guide to the true understanding of it. 

It will be seen that the word "soul," in its theological sense, 
does not cover all the ground, or properly represent the Hebrew 
word "nephesh." The English word "soul" is from the Latin 
solus — alone or sole, because the maintenance of man as a living 
organism, and all that affects his health and well-being, is the 
one sole or main thing in common with every living thing which 
the Lord God has made. The correct Latin word for the the- 
ologicar term "soul" (or nephesh) is anima; and this is from 
the Greek anemos — air or breath, because it is this that keeps 
the whole in life and in being. 

[The usage of the corresponding New Testament word 
psuche will be presented in a later Appendix.] 

The first occurrence of nephesh is in Gen. i :2o "the moving 
creature that hath life (nephesh)" (It is used of the lower 
animals four times before it is used of man; and out of the 
first thirteen times in Genesis, it is used ten times of the lower 
animals.) 

The following are twelve classifications of nephesh: 

i. Nephesh is used of the lower animals in twenty-two pas- 
sages only, and is rendered in nine different ways: 

i. "creature." Gen. 1:21, 24; 2:19; 9:10, 12. Lev. 11:46 7 

2. "thing." Lev. 11:10. Ezek. 47:9 2 

3. "life." Gen. 1 :2o, 30 2 

4. "the life." Gen. 9:4. Deut. 12:23, 23. Prov. 12:10.. 4 

5. "beast." Lev. 24:18, 18, 18. (See margin) 3 

6. "the soul." Job 12:10. (See Margin) j 



96 The Kingdom of God 

7. "breath." Job 41 :2i 1 

8. "fish." Isa. 19 no. (See margin) 1 

9. "her." Jer. 2 =24 1 

22 

11. Nephesh is used of the Lower Animals and Man in seven 
passages, and rendered in three different ways: 

1. "creature." Gen. 9 :i5, 16 2 

2. "the life." Lev. 17:11, 14, 14, 14 4 

3. "soul." Num. 31 \2% 1 



III. Nephesh is used of Man, as an individual person, in 53 
passages, and is rendered in six different ways: 

1. "soul." Gen. 2:7; 12:5; 46:15, 18, 22, 25, 26, 27. Ex. 

1:5; 12:4. Lev. 22:11; Ps. 25:20. Prov. 10:3; 
11:25, 30; 14:25; 19:15; 22:23 (R.V.) ; 25:25; 27:7, 
Jer. 38:16; Lam. 3:25. Ezek. 13:18, 20; 18:4 34 

2. "person." Gen. 14:21; 36:6 (R.V. souls). Ex. 16:16. 

Lev. 27:2; Num. 31:40; Deut. 10:22; Jer. 43:6; 
52:29, 30; Ezek. 16:5; 27:13 14 

3. "persons." Num. 31 135 



4. "any," Deut. 24:7 

5. "man." 2 Kings 12:4 

6. "and." 1 Chron. 5:21... 
Not rendered (Num. 31:35) 



Lit. "and the soul of man . . . were 32,000 souls" 53 

IV. Nephesh is. used of Man, as exercising certain powers, or 
performing certain acts (may be often well rendered by em- 
phatic pronouns), in ninety-six passages, and with eleven dif- 
ferent renderings: 

1. "soul." Gen. 27:4, 19, 25, 31. Lev. 4:2; 5:1, 2, 4, 15, 

17; 6:2; 7:18, 20, 21, 27; 16:29, 31; 17:12, 15; 20:6, 

25; 22:6, 23:27, 30, 32. Num. 15:27, 28, 30; 19:22; 

29:7; 30:2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Deut. 

13:6. Judg. 5:21. 1 Sam. 1:26; 17:55; 18:3; 20:3, 

17; 25:26. 2 Sam. 11:11; 14:19. 2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6; 

4:30. Job. 16:4; 31:30 (R.V. life). Ps. 35 1x3 ; 

120:6. Prov. 6:32; 8:36; 11:17; I 3 : 2', 15:32; 16:17; 

19:8, 16; 20:2 (R.V. life); 21:23; 22:5; 29:24. 

JEccl. 4:8; 6:2. Isa. 51:23; 58:3, 5. Jer. 4:19. 



Man's Mortality 97 

Ezek. 4:14. Mic. 6:7 81 

2. "man." Ex. 12:16 1 

3. "any." Lev. 2 :i 1 

4. "one." Lev. 4 :zj 1 

5. "yourselves." Lev. 11:43, 44- J er - 1 7 - 2I 3 

6. "person." Num. 5 :6 1 

7. "themselves." Est. 9:31. Isa. 46:2 2 

8. "himself." Job. 18 -.4 (R.V. thyself) ; 32 \z 2 

9. "he." Ps. 105 :i8 1 

10. "herself." Jer. 3:11 1 

11. "himself." Jer. 51:14. Amos 6:8 (used of Jehovah) 2 

9 ± 

V. Nephesh is used of Man, as possessing animal appetites 
and desires, in twenty-two passages, rendered in five different 
ways: 

1. "soul." Num. 11:6 (dried away). Deut. 12:15 (lust- 

eth), 20 (longeth to eat flesh), 20 (lusteth after), 
21 (lusteth); 14:26 (lusteth); 26 (desireth) 21:5 

(loatheth). 1 Sam. 2:16 (desireth). Job. 6:7 (re- 
fused) ; 33:20 (abhorreth). Ps. 107:18 (abhorreth). 
Prov. 6:30 (hunger) ; 13:25 (satisfying). Isa. 29:8 

(empty), 8 (hath appetite). Mic. 7:1 (desired . . . 
figs.) 17 

2. "pleasure." Deut. 23 =24 1 

3. "lust." Ps. 78 :i8 1 

4. "appetite." Prov. 23 '.2. Eccl. 6 7 2 

5. "greedy." Isa. 56:11 1 

22 

VI. Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising mental faculties, 
and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions 
in 231 passages, and rendered in twenty different ways: 

1. "soul." Gen. 34:3 (clave), 8 (longeth) ; 42:21 (an- 
guish) ; 49:6 (come not). Lev. 26:11 (not abhor), 
15 (abhor), 30 (abhor), 43 (abhor). Num. 21:4 
(discouraged). Deut. 4:9 (keep). 29: (seek); 6:5 
(love); 10:12 (serve); 11:13 (love), 18 (lay up 
in); 13:3 (love); 26:16 (keep); 30:2 (return), 6 
(love), 10 (turn). Josh. 22:5 (serve); 23:14 
(know). Judg. 10:16* (grieved); 16:16 (vexed). 

* Used of God. 

1 Sam. 1:10 (bitterness of), 15 (poured out); 18:1 
(knit with), 1: (loved as); 20:4 (desireth); 23:20 



98 The Kingdom of God 

(desire); 30:6 (grieved). 2 Sam. 5:8 (hated). I 
Kings 2:4 (walk); 8:48 (return); 11:37 (desired). 
2 Kings 4:27 (vexed); 23:3 (keep), 25 (turned). 

I Chron. 22:19 (seek). 2 Chron. 6:38 (return); 
15:12 (seek); 34:31 (keep). Job. 3:20 (bitter); 
7:11 (bitterness) ; 9:21 (know) (R.V. myself) ; 10:1 
(weary), 1 (bitterness); 14:22 (mourn); 19:2 
(vex); 21:25 (bitterness); 23:13* (desireth) ; 

* Used of God. 

24:12 (wounded); 27:2 (vexed); 30:16 (poured 
out), 25 (grieved). Ps. 6:3 (sore vexed); 11:5* 

* Used of God. 

(hateth) ; 13:2 (take counsel) ; 19:7 (converting); 
24:4 (not lifted up); 25:1 (lifted up), 13 (dwell 
at ease); 31:7 (in adversities), 9 (consumed with 
grief); 33:20 (waiteth) ; 34:2 (boast); 35:9 (be 
joyful) ; 42:1 (panteth), 2 (thirsteth), 4 (poured 
out), 5 (cast down), 6 (cast down), 11 (cast 
down); 43:5 (cast down); 44:25 (bowed down); 
49:18 (blessed) ; 57:1 (trusteth), 6 (bowed down) ; 
62:1 (waiteth), 5 (wait); 63:1 (thirsteth), 5 (sat- 
isfied), 8 (followeth hard) ; 69:10 (chastened) ; 
77:2 (refused comfort); 84:2 (longeth) ; 86:4 (re- 
joiced), 4 (lift up) ; 88:3 (full of troubles) ; 94:19 
(delight); 103: 1, 2, 22; 104:1, 35 (bless); 107:5 
(fainted), 9 (satisfied), 9 (rilled with goodness), 
26 (melted); 116:7 (return to rest): 119:20 (long- 
ing), 25 (cleaveth unto the dust), 28 (melteth for 
heaviness), 81 (fainteth), 129 (keep), 167 (kept) ; 
123:4 (filled with scorning) ; 130:5 (wait), 6 (wait- 
eth) ; 131:2 (quieted); 138:3 (strengthened); 
139:14 (knoweth) ; 143:6 (thirsteth), 8 (lifted up), 

II (bring out of trouble), 12 (afflict) ; 146:1 
(praise). Prov. 2:10 (knowledge pleasant); 3:22 

(be life to); 13:4 (desireth), 4 (made fat), 19; 
16:24 (sweet to); 19:2 (without knowledge), 18 
(spare) (R.V. heart); 21:10 (desireth); 22:25 (get 
a snare to) ; 24:14 (wisdom unto) ; 25:13 (refresh- 
ed) ; 29:17 (give delight). Eccl. 2:24 (enjoy 
good); 6:3 (not filled); 7:28 (seeketh). Song 1:7; 
3:2, 3, 4 (loveth) ; 5:6 (failed); 6:12,* (made me 

* Used of God. 

like chariots). Isa. 1:14 (hateth) 26:8 (desire), 9 
(desire); 32:6 (made empty); 38:15 (bitterness 
of); 42:1,* 55:2 (delight); 58.10 (drawn out), 10 

* Used of God. 



Mans Mortality 99 

afflicted), n (satisfied); 61:10 (joyful); 66:3 (de- 
lighteth). Jer. 4:31 (wearied); 5:9, 29 (avenged); 
6:8 (depart), 16 (find rest) ; 9:9,* (avenged): 12:7 

* Used of God. 

dearly beloved of); 13:17 (shall weep); 14:19 
loathed); 31:12 (watered), 14:25 (satiated), 25 
(sorrowful) ; 32:41,* (whole) ; 50: 19 (satisfied). 
*Used of God. 

Lam. 3:17 (removed), 20 (humbled), 24 (saith). 
Ezek. 7:19 (satisfied); 24:21 (pitieth). Jonah 2:7 
(fainted). Hab. 2:4 (not upright). Zech. 11:8 

loathed), 8 (abhorred) 176 

2 "mind." Gen. 23:8 (your). Deut. 18:6 (desire); 28:65 
(sorrow). 1 Sam. 2:35.* 2 Sam. 17:8 (chafed). 2 

* Used of God. 

Kings 9:15. 1 Chron. 28:9 (willing). Jer. 15:1.* 
Ezek. 23:17 (R.V. soul), 18,* (R.V. soul), 18,* (R.V. 

* Used of God. 

soul), 22 (R.V. soul), 28 (R.V. soul), (alienated); 

24:25 (R.V. heart) (set); 36:5 (R.V. soul) (de- 
spiteful) 15 

3. "heart." Ex. 23:9. Lev. 26:16. Deut. 25:15. 1 Sam. 
2: 33 (grieve). 2 Sam. 3:21 (desireth). Ps. 10:3 
(desire). Prov. 23:7 (R.V. himself) ; 28:25 (proud 
heart) (R.V. greedy spirit); 31:6 (heavy heart) 
(R.V. bitter in soul). Jer. 42:20 (dissembled). (R.V. 
souls). Lam. 3:51 (affected) (R.V. soul). Ezek. 
25:6 (rejoiced) (R.V. soul); 15 (despiteful) (R.V. 

soul); 27:31 (bitterness). Hos. 4:8 (set) 15 

4. "hearty." Prov 27:9 (counsel) 1 



'will." Deut. 21:14 (she will). Ps. 27:12; 41:2 Ezek 
16:27 4 

"desire." Eccl. 6:9. Jer. 22:27; 44:14. Mic. 7:3 (R.V. 
soul). Hab. 2:5 5 

"pleasure." Ps. 105:22. Jer. 34:16 2 

"lust." Ex. 15 :9 

"angry." Judg. 18:25 - 

"discontented." 1 Sam. 22:2 

"thyself." Est. 4:13 

"myself." Ps. 1 3 1 .2 

"he." Prov. 16:26 (R.V. appetite) 

"his own." Prov. 14:10 (R.V. its own) 

"Him." Prov. 6:16. (used of God) 

"himself." Jon. 4:8 

"herself." Isa. 5:14 (R.V. her desire).. 

"yourselves." Jer. 37 :9 



100 The Kingdom of God 

19. "man." Isa. 49 7 1 

20. "so would we have it." Ps. 3 5 125 23 1 

VII. Nephesh is used of Man, (a) as being "cut off" by God; 
(b) and as being slain or killed by man, in fifty-four passages: 
and is rendered in eight different ways: 

(a) Soul cut off by God, in twenty-two passages, and ren- 
dered "soul." Gen. 17:14. Ex. 12:15, 19; 31:14. Lev. 7:20 

21, 25, 27; 17:10; 18:29; 19:8; 20:6; 22:3; 23:29, 30. 
Num. 8:13; 15:30, 31; 19:13; 20. Ezek. 18:4-20.. 22 

(b) Slain or killed by man, in thirty-two passages, rendered 
in eight different ways: 

1. "soul." Josh. 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39; 11:11. Jer. 

2:34. Ezek. 13:19; 22:25, 27 12 

2. "person." Deut. 27:25. Josh. 20:3, 9. 1 Sam. 22:22. 

Prov. 28:17; Ezek. 17:17; 33:6 7 

3. "any." Lev. 24 '.17 1 

4. "any person." Num. 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30 5 

5. "him." Gen. 37:21. Deut. 19:6; 22:26 3 

6. "mortally." Deut. 19:11 1 

7. "life." 2 Sam. 14:7 1 

8. "thee." Jer. 40:14, 15 2 

54 

VIII. Nephesh is used of Man as being mortal, subject to 
death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and deliv- 
ered and life prolonged, in 243 passages, rendered in eleven 
different ways: 

1. "soul." Gen. 12:13; 19:20. Ex. 30:12, 15, 16. Lev. 
17:11 (R.V. life). Num. 16:38 (R.V. lives); 31:50. 
1 Sam. 24:11; 25:29; 26:21 (R.V. life). 2. Sam. 
4:9. 1 Kings 1:29; 17:21, 22. Job 7:15; 27:8. 
Ps. 3:2; 6:4; 7:2, 5; 11 :i; 17:13; 22:20, 29; 
23:3; 25:20; 26:9; 33:19; 34:22; 35:22; 35:3, 4, 
12, 17; 40:14; 41:4; 49:8, 15; 54:3» 4; 55:i8; 56:6, 
13; 57:4; 59:3; 63:9; 66:9, 16; 69:1, 18; 70:2; 
71:10, 13, 23; 72:13, 14; 74:19; 78:50; 86:2, 14; 
88:14; 94:21; 97:10; 106:15; 109:20, 31; 116:4, 8; 
119:109, 175; 120:2; 121:7; 124:4, 5, 7; 141:8; 
142:4, 7; 143:3. Prov. 18:7; 24:12; 29:10. Isa. 3:9; 
10:18; 44:20; 53:10, 11, 12; 55:3. Jer. 4:10; 20:13; 
26:19; 37:17, 20; 44:7; 51:6 (R.V. life), 45 (R.V. 
yourselves). Lam. 1:11, 16:19; 2:12; 3:58. Ezek. 
3:19, 21; 13:18, 19; 14:14; 18:27; 33:5, 9. Hos. 9:4 



Mans Mortality 101 

(R.V. appetite). Jon. 2:5. Hab. 2:10 117 

2. "life, lives." Gen. 9:5; 19:17, 19; 32:30; 35:18; 44:30, 

Ex. 4:19; 21:23, 30. Num. 35:31. Deut. 19.21; 24:6. 
Josh. 2:13, 14; 9:24. Judg. 5:18; 9:17; 12:3; 18:25. 
Ruth 4:15. 1 Sam. 19:5, n; 20:1; 22:23; 23:15; 
26:24; 28:9, 21; 2 Sam. 1:9; 4:8; 16:1; 18:13; 
19:5; 23:17. 1 Kings. 1:12; 2:23; 3:11; 19: 2, 4, 
10, 14; 20:31, 39, 42; 2 Kings 1:13, 14; 7:7; 10:24, 
1 Chron. 11:19; 2 Chron. 1:11. Est. 7:3, 7; 8:11; 
9:16. Job 2:4, 6; 6:11 (R.V. be patient); 13:14; 
31:39; Ps. 31:13; 38:12. Prov. 1:18, 19; 6:26; 
7:23; 13:3, 8. Isa. 15:4 (R.V. soul); 43:4. Jer. 
4:30; 11:21; 19:7, 9; 21:7, 9; 22:25; 34:20, 21; 
38:2, 16; 39:18; 44:30; 45:5; 46:26; 48:6; 49:37. 
Lam. 2:19; 5, 9. Ezek. 32:10. Jon. 1:14; 4:3 no 

3. "ghost." Job 1 1 :2c Jer. 1 5 :9 2 

4. "person." 2 Sam. 14:14 (R.V. life) 1 

5. "tablets." Isa. 3 :2o (R.V. perfume boxes) 1 

Heb. "houses of the soul" = boxes of scent for the 
nose 1 

6. "deadly." Ps. 17:9 (Heb. "enemies against my 

nephesh") 1 

7. "himself." 1 Kings 19:4. Amos 2:14, 15 3 

8. "me." Num. 23:10. Judg. 16:30. 1 Kings 20:32 3 

9. "they." Job. 36:14 1 

10. "themselves." Isa. 47 :i4 1 

11. "yourselves." Deut. 4:15. Josh. 23:11 2 

243_ 

IX. Nephesh is used of Man, as actually dead, in thirteen 
passages, and is rendered in three different ways: 

1. "the dear." Lev. 19:28; 21:1; 22:4. Num. 5:2; 6:11. 5 

2. "dead body." Num. 9 :6, 7, 10 3 

3. "body." Lev. 21:11. Num. 6:6; 19:11, 13. Hag. 2:13. 5 

13 

X. Nephesh, in thirteen passages (all rendered "soul"), is 
spoken of as going to a place described by four different words, 
rendered as shown below: 

i. "sheol" = THE grave (as distinct from keber, A grave), 
gravedom (or the dominion of death), in five passages, rendered 
in this connection in two different ways: 

1. "grave." Ps. 30:3 (R.V. "Sheol") ; 89:48 (R.V. 
"Sheol," marg. grave). (Cp. Ps. 49:15). 



102 The Kingdom of God 

2. "hell," Ps. 16:10 (R.V. "Shed"), 86:13 (marg. grave. 
R.V. "pit," marg. lowest Sheol). Prov. 23:14 (R. 
V. "Sheol," marg. the grave). 
ii. "shachath" == a pit (for taking wild beasts) ; hence, a 
grave. The Septuagint and New Testament take it in the sense 
of corruption; but, if so, not implying putridity, but destruction. 
Occurs in six passages, and is rendered in two different ways: 

1. "pit." Job 33:18, 28, 30. Ps. 35:7. Isa. 38:17 5 

2. "grave." Job 33 :22 (R.V. "pit") 1 

iii. "shuchah" == a deep pit (Cp. all the occurrences, Prov. 

22:14; 23:27. Jer. 2:6; 18: 20, 22). In one passage only: 

I. "pit." Jer. 18 :20 1 

iv. "dumah." = silence. Ps. 94:17 1 

13 
Total 754 

The late H. L. Hastings presents the following facts 
on the question : 

"Here, then, is the place to inquire about its immor- 
tality, and here I have inquired by examining every one 
of these passages for myself. Now I ask you to. do the 
same; and if you find anywhere in the Scriptures the 
expression 'immortal soul,' or 'never-dying soul,' used 
one single time, I will give up the argument at once. 
. . . There is not one such phrase as 'immortal spirit,' 
'undying spirit,' or 'never dying spirit.' Here, then, are 
the facts in the case: The words 'soul' and 'spirit' occur 
in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures sixteen hundred 
times, and the words 'immortal soul' or 'immortal spirit' 
occur in the Scriptures in Hebrew, Greek, or English not 
once. . . . 

"Will some one find the expression 'immortal' or 
'deathless' connected with the term 'soul' or 'spirit' any- 
where in the Holy Scriptures, either in English, Hebrew, 
or Greek? One such passage will conclude the discus- 
sion. Shall it be given? Surely in sixteen hundred and 
eighty-eight passages where these words occur, we shall 
find human immortality revealed if it be true. Will you 



Mans Mortality 103 

find it? If so, I will believe it at once. If you cannot, 
then will you believe with Paul that God 'only hath im- 
mortality,' and that we must 'seek for' it if we would ob- 
tain it? 

"Let me remind you of a few facts: 

"First, the apostle Paul is the only writer in the whole 
Bible who makes use of the word 'immortal' or 'immor- 
tality.' 

"Second, he never applies it to sinners. 

"Third, he never applies it to either righteous or 
wicked in this world. 

"Fourth, he never applies it to men's souls at all, 
either before or after death. 

"Fifth, he speaks of it as an attribute of the King 
eternal. 1 Tim. 1 117. 

"Sixth, he declares that He is the only possessor of it. 

1 Tim. 6:16. 

"Seventh, he presents it as an object which men are 
to seek after by patient continuance in well doing. Rom. 

2 7. 

"Eighth, he speaks of it as revealed or brought to light 
(not in heathen philosophy, but) in the gospel of the 
Son of God. 2 Tim. 1 :io. 

"Ninth, he defines the period when it shall be 'put on' 
by the saints of God, and fixes it at the resurrection, when 
Christ, who is our life, shall appear. 1 Cor. 15 152, 54. 

"Tenth, therefore he never taught the immortality of 
the soul, as it is now taught; and hence when he de- 
clared that sinners should be destroyed, or perish, or die, 
or be burned, or devoured by fire, he did so without any 
'mental reservations' or 'theological definitions.' In 
other words, that he said what he meant, and meant what 
he said." — "Pauline Theology?,' pages 34, 35, 70-73. 

Olshausen says, "The doctrine of the immortality of 
the soul, and the name, are alike unknown to the entire 
Bible." — Comment on 1 Cor. 15:13. 

It is of heathen origin. "The Egyptians were also the 



104 The Kingdom of God 

first who taught the doctrine of the immortality of the 
soul" — Herodotus Exter, 2, par. 123. 

Cardinal Du Perron says, "Luther held that the soul 
dies with the body, and that God will hereafter raise 
both the one and the other." — "Historical View" page 

344. 

From these facts the candid Bible student may readily 
see that man was subjected to conditions of test before re- 
ceiving immortality. As he failed under test, immortality, 
which is not a birthright, but a gift of God through 
Christ, will be given only to those who through faith and 
obedience become loyal subjects of the kingdom of God. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Sinner's Destiny 

AS moral governor of the universe, God must punish 
"^transgressors of His law, or fail as a governor. If 
death were not inflicted, His law would fail in its in- 
herent character. He has waited long, because He is "not 
willing that any should perish." "The long-suffering 
of our Lord is salvation." But if He should delay execu- 
tion unreasonably, the result must, as stated by Solomon, 
reach its climax in reaction against respect for govern- 
ment. "Because sentence against an evil work is not 
executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men 
is fully set in them to do evil." Eccl. 8:11. 

If you would know the depth of pity attending the 
execution of the sentence against sin, behold the weeping 
Son of man as He announces the doom of old Jerusalem 
in words of pathos unknown in earthly kingdoms. Matt. 
23 137. In the same spirit will He execute the death pen- 
alty upon impenitent sinners. When too late they will 
cast their idols away in contempt, and cry, "The harvest 
is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. 
8:19, 20. 

The question, "What shall be the destiny of unrepent- 
ant sinners?" concerns all mankind. On this point, the 
Bible is very plain. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 
Ezek. 18:20. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. 
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
Gen. 2:17. Satan said: "Ye shall not surely die." "Ye 
shall be as gods." Gen. 3 '.4, 5. Man, by disobedience, 
forfeited his right to life. Death is to be his portion, 

105 



106 The Kingdom of God 

since God's decree is, "Thou shalt die, and not live." 2 
Kings 20 :i. When the final penalty of sin is paid, sin- 
ners will have ceased to exist. 

Three texts commonly used in support of the theory 
of eternal torture are Rev. 20:10; 14:11; Matt. 25:46. 
The word "forever" in the first passage is a variable word, 
sometimes meaning a short period of time, as in the case 
of a Hebrew servant, the record of which is given in 
Deut. 15:17: "Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust 
it through his ear unto the door, "and he shall be thy ser- 
vant forever." "Forever" in this instance could mean 
but the remaining days of a full-grown man, who was 
already a servant. It could not refer to eternity of dura- 
tion. How, then, can we tell to what length of time it 
refers in Rev. 20:10? Since the word "forever" is of 
varying import, its meaning must always be determined 
by its context, or by other passages of Scripture on the 
same subject. The context in Rev. 20:10 indicates that 
this burning ends in the second death. "And death and 
hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second 
death." Verse 14. And since God says that death is 
a cessation of life, then, according to the context, the text 
could not refer to eternal torture, but strongly means 
finality of punishment. 

Satan is the one specially mentioned in this text. If, 
for any particular reason, God should mete out a longer 
punishment to him than to men, who have been deceived 
by him, that would prove nothing in regard to the rest 
of the wicked. But even here we are instructed that it 
would not refer to eternal torture. The Scriptures say 
of the final destiny of Satan: "Thou hast defiled thy 
sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the 
iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire 
from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and / will 
bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all 
them that behold thee. All they that know thee among 
the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a 



The Sinner s Destiny 107 

terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Ezek. 28:18, 
19. American Revised Version, "Shalt nevermore have 
any being." The Septuagint, "Shall not exist any more." 
Spurrell, "Shalt not be again forever." Even in the case 
of Satan, there will be no eternal existence in torment. 
He shall come to ashes, and cease to exist. 

The same is said of the wicked, in Ps. 37:9-11: "For 
evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the 
Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, 
and the wicked shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently 
consider his place, and it shall not be [exist]. But the 
meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves 
in the abundance of peace." At that time, the righteous 
shall inherit the earth. This agrees with Matt. 25 :3i~34, 
41, 46. Death is the punishment of the wicked. This 
must be so, for "the wages of sin is death," not eternal 
torment. When the penalty shall have been inflicted, and 
sinners have gone down in the second death, it will be 
an eternal loss of existence. There will never be a resur- 
rection thereafter. The punishment of the wicked will 
therefore be an everlasting punishment, not punishzVz^. 
The death penalty, once inflicted, places the wicked 
where they are everlastingly cut off from the privilege of 
life. This view is in harmony with the character of God. 
He mercifully cuts the wicked off from the life which 
they have abused, and brings their miseries to an end. 
Their work will not be perpetuated to all eternity. 

This is precisely what is said in John 3:15. "Who- 
soever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know 
that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." This 
clears these passages of all difficulty. There is nothing 
to any of them, when rightly understood, that is out of 
harmony with the view that the wicked shall cease to live. 
As an example, Jude refers to Sodom and Gomorrah as 
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Is that fire still 
burning? No. When it had consumed the inhabitants 
of those cities, it ceased to burn. Where those cities once 



108 The Kingdom of God 

stood, the waters of the Dead Sea now roll. The con- 
suming of those cities by fire is mentioned as an example 
of the manner of the destruction of the wicked. Jude 7. 

THE WICKED COMPARED TO STUBBLE 

Malachi compares the wicked to stubble, in that they 
shall be consumed by fire. "For, behold, the day cometh, 
that they shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, 
and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day 
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, 
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mai. 

This agrees with the words of the psalmist : "Wait on 
the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to 
inherit the land : when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt 
see it." Ps. 37:34. The words of Christ are "Blessed 
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 
5 :5. The wicked, according to the words of Christ, shall 
not inherit the earth. This He further states in Matt. 
13:40-43: "As therefore the tares are gathered and 
burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 
The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they 
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, 
and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a 
furnace of fife: there shall be wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun 
in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, 
let him hear." Tares do not eternally burn in the fire. 
They burn to ashes, and are no more. So, says Christ, 
shall it be with the wicked at the end of the world. Then 
the righteous inherit the kingdom restored. 

THE PLACE OF THEIR DESTRUCTION BECOMES THE IN- 
HERITANCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

The very place where the wicked come to ashes will 
afterwards become the home of the saved. "But unto you 



The Sinner's Destiny 109 

that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise 
with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and 
grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down 
the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of 
your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of 
hosts." Mai. 4:2, 3. "The righteous shall be recom- 
pensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sin- 
ner." Prov. 11:31. 

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall 
be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be 
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all 
holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting 
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens 
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to 
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:10-13. 
There will then come forth a clean universe, without a 
stain of sin or a relic of wickedness in all its territory. 
Every sinner will then have ceased to be. "Yea, thou 
shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be!' 
Ps. 37 -io. 

"Is it reasonable to suppose that words, when found 
in the Bible, must have a meaning attached to them 
which no man in his senses would ever think of attaching 
to them in any other book? For instance, the words 'life' 
and 'death,' when found in the Bible, must (as theolo- 
gians tell us) mean happiness and misery; but if found' 
in any other book in the world, they would simply mean 
existence and cessation of existence, 

"Is it reasonable to suppose that in all the vast multi- 
tude of passages in which Christ promised life, eternal life, 
to His followers, He did not literally mean what He 
said? This He could not, if all men have immortal 



lib The Kingdom of God 

life by nature. In that case, the wicked will live through 
eternity as well as the righteous. 

"Is it reasonable to suppose, in all the vast multitude of 
passages in which death is threatened as the punishment 
of the sinner, that loss of happiness is all that is meant? 
An unhappy man is as truly alive as the most happy being 
in existence. 

"Is it reasonable to believe that men go to heaven or 
hell immediately at death, and then hundreds or thou- 
sands of years afterward, are taken out to be judged, to 
determine which fate they deserve? Should we deem it 
right to send a man to the state prison for ten years, 
and then bring him out for trial to see if he deserved 
such a punishment? 

"Is it reasonable to talk about a 'death that never 
dies,' when there is not a word in Scripture to sanction 
such a contradictory phrase? Would it not be equally 
reasonable to speak of the reward of the righteous as a 
'life that never lives' ? 

"Is it reasonable to use so constantly, both in sermons 
and in prayers, such terms as- 'immortal souls,' 'never dy- 
ing souls,' 'deathless spirits,' and similar expressions, 
when there is not from Genesis to Revelation one single 
passage to warrant the use of such language? 

"Is it reasonable to say that 'eternal death' and 'eternal 
torment' are synonymous expressions (as theologians tell 
us) ? For how, then, can it be said, in Rev. 21 14, 'There 
shall be no more death'? 

"Is it reasonable to believe that a hell of fiery torment 
and ceaseless misery is to exist forever, when God says 
(Rev. 21:5), 'Behold, I make all things new'? 

"Is it reasonable to believe in the eternal torment of 
the wicked, when more than two hundred passages of 
Scripture plainly affirm that they shall 'die,' be 'con- 
sumed,' 'devoured,' 'destroyed,' 'burned up,' 'be as though 
they had not been,' etc. ? 

"Is it reasonable to believe that the righteous in their 



The Sinner's Destiny in 

glorified state can be indifferent to, and unaffected by, 
the endless sufferings of countless millions of their fellow 
beings, among whom would probably be found parents, 
children, husbands, wives, etc.? 

"Is it reasonable to believe that God is such a vindic- 
tive being that His justice cannot be satisfied with the 
death of the offender, but that He must be constantly 
pouring floods of fiery wrath upon the wretched being 
through the ever-rolling cycles of eternity?" 

Edwin Burnham presents the following facts on the 
question of the sinner's destiny: 

"All finally impenitent human beings will be raised 
from the dead, in the general resurrection of the wicked, 
and will be judged by the Son of God, to the doom of 'in- 
dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,' which will 
result in their eternal death. 

Concerning the finally impenitent, the Bible declares: 

"They shall die. Ezek. 18:4. 

"They shall suffer death. Rom. 6:23. 

"They shall suffer the second death. Rev. 20:14, 15. 

"They shall be destroyed. Ps. 145:20. 

"They shall suffer destruction. Job 21 :30. 

"They shall perish. Ps. 37:20. 

"They shall lose life, or soul. Matt. 16:25, 26. 

"They shall be burned. Heb. 6:8. 

"They shall be burned up. Matt. 3:12. 

"They shall not be. Ps. 37:10. 

"They shall come to an end. Ps. 37:38. 

"They shall be consumed. Ps. 37:20. 

"They shall be devoured. Ps. 21 .9. 

"They shall be slain. Ps. 62:3. 

"They shall be cut off. Ps. 37:9. 

"They shall be as though they had not been. Obadiah 

16. 
"They shall be silent in darkness. 1 Sam. 2:9. 
"They shall be no more. Ps. 104:35. 
"They shall be blotted out. Ps. 69:28. 
"They shall suffer perdition. 2 Peter 3 7. 
"They shall be ground to powder. Matt. 21:44. 
"They shall be hewn down. Matt. 3 :io. 
"They shall see corruption. Gal. 6:8. 
"They shall be torn in pieces. Ps. 50:22. 
"They shall be rooted up. Prov. 2:22. 



112 The Kingdom of God 

"They shall be as nothing. Jer. 10:24. 
"They shall be as nought. Isa. 41:12. 

"Again, the wicked are compared to the most com 
bustible materials, — to chaff (Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17 
Isa. 5 124) ; to stubble (Mai. 4:1 ; Isa. 5 124; Neh. 1 :io) 
to tares (Matt. 13:40); to dry branches (John 15:6) 
to thorns and briars (Heb. 6:8) ; and sinners are said to 
be burned as these articles are. Does this look like pre- 
serving them alive, either in torment or in heaven? 

"The words 'not found,' 'no place,' 'darkness,' 'black- 
ness,' 'end,' 'perish,' 'destroy,' 'destruction,' 'blot out,' 
'cease,' 'not be,' 'utterly perish,' 'burned up,' 'as chaff,' 
'die,' 'death,' 'second death,' and kindred words, such as 
are calculated to impress the mind with the idea of a 
final termination of their existence, are the words ever and 
freely used throughout all the Bible, to reveal the final 
punishment of the wicked. 

"The words 'immortal soul,' 'deathless soul,' 'undying 
soul,' 'deathless spirit,' 'disembodied soul,' 'disembodied 
spirit,' 'eternal torment,' 'eternal suffering in conscious 
misery,' 'eternal misery,' 'unending misery,' 'unending 
torment,' 'everlasting woe,' 'endless woe,' 'never dying 
soul,' and all their kindred words, are words that never, 
in a single instance, are found in the Bible. But from 
the copious manner in which these words are passed to 
us from the pulpit and through the press, we should, with- 
out reading, suppose the Bible full of them. 

"We must conclude that a doctrine so awfully terrific 
as that of eternal torment should be revealed to us in 
language most fearfully plain and unequivocal; and that 
no room should be left for doubt, even to the most can- 
didly skeptical who believe the Bible at all. But this is 
not the fact. The teachers of this dogma are compelled 
to attempt to sustain it by the use of symbolic and figura- 
tive passages of Scripture, and by far-fetched and frag- 
mentary inference." — "Anti-Eternal Torment" pages 
1-3- 



PART V 

god's plan for saving the lost 

chapter xvi 

Eternal Life Offered in Christ 

T N the fall of Adam the death sentence was passed upon 
* the race of mankind. "In Adam all die." "There 
is no discharge in this war." 

The. question of transcendent importance therefore is, 
"If a man die, shall he live again?" We may endeavor 
to evade the consideration of this question, and exercise 
our minds in the solution of less weighty problems, but 
sooner or later the death of our loved ones, and our own 
approach to that crisis, forces the question home to us. 

The awful fact confronts us that all that we can see 
of an individual perishes and returns to dust. We cannot 
see, and it is difficult for us to conceive, what the spirit 
is that returns to God who gave it. Upon this question 
we become enlightened by turning back to man's creation 
in the beginning, where we are informed that after man 
had been formed from dust of the ground God "breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a 
living soul." This inbreathed spirit did not impart im- 
mortality, but it imparted life. At death this life prin- 
ciple imparted in man's creation returns to God, and it 
"is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, 
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 

On the very threshold of our investigation, we are 
met by a class of scholarly scientists, who, like Huxley, as 

H3 



114 > The Kingdom of God 

expressed in the lines of his self-composed epitaph, doubt- 
ing a future life, says: 

"And if there be no meeting past the grave, 
If all is darkness, silence, yet 'tis rest. 
Be not afraid, ye willing hearts that weep, 
For God still giveth His beloved sleep, 
And if an endless sleep, He wills, so best." 

Others in hours of distress and darkness cry out, "Where 
is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?" 

No amount of argument will convince an unwilling 
skeptic. .JTo awake after having died is the only demon- 
stration that would convince such. Even the believing 
apostle cried out, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine un- 
belief." 

A brief study of the question from the standpoint of 
the three great lines of human thought, — science, philos- 
ophy and religion, — may prove a helpful prelude to direct 
Bible testimony. 

History and experience show that when men come to 
believe that this life ends all, the tendency is to break 
from all moral restraint, saying, "Let us eat, drink and be 
merry, for to-morrow we die." Ruin follows as the disas- 
trous result. Profound statesmen have declared that hu- 
man governments would crumble in a few generations if 
a future life could be disproved. 

But the mystery of the life current and life itself is 
explainable only at the throne of the universe from which 
all life has its source. Life is not. the only problem with 
which science deals which is still an unsolved mystery. 
"Gravitation, atoms, energy, vibration and cells, are all 
admitted by science to be still unsolved mysterious prob- 
lems. Who can explain the mystery of electricity and 
radium?" Scientists in Paul's day, when studying the 
question of a future life, raised the inquiry, "With what 
body do they come?" to which Paul replied, "God giveth 
it a body as it hath pleased Him," "It is sown a natural 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 115 

body; it is raised a spiritual body." But he boldly af- 
firms that we have promise of the life that now is and 
that which is to come. 

The climax of Paul's argument in support of a future 
life was based on the fact of Christ's resurrection after 
His death upon the cross. Here was a plain case of one 
dead being raised to life. This fact was very patent, and 
well known in Paul's day.* 1 Cor. 15:1-28, 35-37. 

Philosophy, while strictly scientific, is nevertheless 
overwhelmingly assuring that a future life has been pro- 
vided for mankind. Almost every race of mankind, from 
Egypt, the most ancient of nations, depended upon their 
preservation as mummies, their sarcophagi and their 
sacred bull, Apis, to give them a future life: the Ameri- 
can Indian, who looks for a future life, with happy hunt- 
ing grounds ; the great eastern races with their Buddhistic 
ideas of a nirvana with beautiful women in luxuriant 
summer palaces and perfect dreamlands of tropical para- 
dise; the Mohammedan expecting the return of Christ 
and Mohammed, to the more enlightened Christianized 
races who look for a renewed heaven and earth, accord- 
ing to the teaching of the sacred Scriptures, all witness 
to the fact that within the bosom of mankind has been 
implanted a consciousness of a future life. How should 
we regard a gardener who should plant acres of beautiful 
roses, cultivate and care for them until they budded in 
immense profusion and then abandon them to the canker 
worm, leaving the garden a cemetery smitten by death? 
Either there is a future life, or God's purpose in the 
creation of mankind has failed. All other parts of God's 
creation witness that He is too wise to have created the 
race for this brief space only, ever after to reign over all 
as dead corpses. Cicero says : "There is, I know not how 
in the minds of men, a certain presage, as it were, of a 
future existence, and this takes the deepest root and is 
the most discoverable in the greatest geniuses, and most 

*See chapter eighteen, 



n6 The Kingdom of God 

exalted souls." St. Augustine cried out, "O God, Thou 
hast made us for Thyself, and the heart is disquieted until 
it rests in Thee." From the sublime heights of divine 
communion with God the Psalmist David cries, "I shall 
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." As he has 
expressed, there is, according to our third proposition, in 
the Christian consciousness not only an unsatisfied long- 
ing for a future life, but an assured consciousness that 
such a life awaits him, which alone satisfies his longings, 
and gives him peace and rest. Whence all this conscious- 
ness if it is merely to be blighted in its budding? No, 
it is based on love of God and of mankind and is in its 
very nature eternal. The longer we live the stronger 
we love. Eternity alone is sufficient to satisfy the love 
hunger of hearts, which is the product of a perfect life. 
See John 3:16. 

Thus from every standpoint of science, philosophy and 
Christianity, there is strong probability of a future life 
assured. But science cannot carry us to the realization 
of this hope. It can carry us to the mountain base and 
bid us hope, but Christianity alone can point with assur- 
ance the way of attaining the life to come. 

TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE 

Two ways were placed before man in the beginning. 
One was the way of life, the other the way of death. The 
Lord started him in the way of life. Stupendously great 
was his loss in the fall. He became a slave. He lost 
health of body and mind. He lost contentment. He 
lost the immediate and constant association of God and 
angels. He lost character. He lost life. Great as was 
man's fall, the plan of redemption for his restoration was 
greater. Christ, man's Redeemer, says, "This is the will 
of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, 
and believeth on Him may have everlasting life; and I 
will raise him up at the last day." "I am the living bread 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 117 

which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever ; and the bread that I will give 
is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
"Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His 
blood, ye have no life in you." John 6:40, 51, 53. Christ 
here speaks of eternal life, for those to whom He spoke 
were already in possession of the present, natural life. He 
says that they have no life in them except on the con- 
ditions stated. "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh 
My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at 
the last day." Verse 54. Why should He offer us eternal 
life as a gift, if everybody already possessed it by virtue 
of an inherent immortal soul? 

Another evidence that none but those who accept the 
promise of God on the conditions stated, and thus be- 
come righteous, will ever have eternal life, is given in 
1 John 3:15: "Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer: 
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding 
in him." The wicked, therefore, are not immortal; and 
the wisdom of God in depriving man of access to the tree 
of life after the fall, lest man in sin should be immor- 
talized, is vindicated. Gen. 3:1-3. 

The climax of the argument is reached in 1 John 5:11- 
13, 20. "This is the record, that God hath given to us 
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the 
Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath 
not life. These things have I written unto you that be- 
lieve on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know 
that ye have eternal life." Comment could not empha- 
size this declaration that only Christians have eternal life, 
and that that life, forfeited by sin, is regiven by God 
through Jesus Christ to all who accept Him. These 
statements bar any misunderstanding of His meaning. 
The Christ life, which is eternal, is transferred to us, 
and becomes ours as a gift, when we accept Christ. Hence 
"Life and immortality" are brought "to light through the 
gospel." ~2 Tim. 1:10.' "He that believeth on the Son 



Ii8 The Kingdom of God 

hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not on the 
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on 
him." John 3 136. "When Christ, who is our life, shall 
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 
Col. 3:4. 

IMMORTALITY A GIFT, NOT A BIRTHRIGHT 

We therefore conclude that God "only hath immor- 
tality." 1 Tim. 6:15, 16. This immortality is not nat- 
urally inherent in man, but brought "to light through the 
gospel," it will be given to those only who seek for it by 
a life of well-doing, which is possible only through Christ. 
Rom. 2:7. It will be given at the time of the resurrec- 
tion. It is a change in the physical man. "This mortal 
must put on immortality." This will be when death is 
swallowed up in victory, at the last trump. 1 Cor. 

14:52-54. 

"So tjiou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman 
unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the 
word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I 
say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely 
die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his 
way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his 
blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou 
warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not 
turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou 
hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man, 
speak unto the house of Israel : Thus shall ye speak, say- 
ing, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and 
we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say 
unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleas- 
ure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil 
ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezek. 
33:7-11. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of 
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 
6:23. 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 1 19 

Therefore it is written, "Christ gave Himself for our 
sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil 
world." Gal. 1 14. Hence Paul concludes that it was 
necessary for God first "to reveal His Son in me, that I 
might preach Him among the heathen." Verse 16. 

It is impossible to preach Christ until one has Christ 
enthroned in his own heart as the hope of glory. "Even 
so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the 
elements of the world : but when the fullness of time was 
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made 
under the law, to redeem them that were under the 
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And 
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His 
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore 
thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then 
an heir of God through Christ." Gal. 4:3-7. It is plain, 
therefore, that eternal life is offered to sinful men only 
through Christ. Through Him we are adopted into the 
family of God; our inheritance, usurped in the fall, is re- 
stored ; and we in full confidence turn our eyes toward the 
throne of God, and say, "Our Father which art in heav- 
en." As members of the family of God, our future 
eternal life is through Christ fully assured. Christ, the 
author of eternal life, therefore, summarizes the assur- 
ance that Christians will be given a future everlasting 
life, thus: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, 
and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; 
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck 
them out of My hand." John 10:27, 28. 

THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST 

Christ never sought followers on a cheap basis. He 
declared that a successful Christian experience must be 
based upon a completely surrendered life. "Whosoever 
he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can- 
not be My disciple." He forsook all for us. We must 



120 The Kingdom of God 

forsake all for Him. To be His disciple is to be like 
Him, having the same self-sacrificing spirit. There can 
be no serving of two masters. If the eye be single, the 
whole body shall be full of light. Any compromise with 
the world will deprive us of the fulfillment of the prom- 
ises of God, and the whole body shall be full of darkness. 
Has not the truth of His statement been demonstrated? — 
Yes, sadly demonstrated in many lives. A person cannot 
test the blessed promises to the children of the kingdom 
until his life has been placed 

IN THE CURRENT OF GRACE 

The late Dr. A. T. Pierson, editor of the Missionary 
Review of the World, a. devoted leader of world mission- 
ary endeavor, asks and answers the questions of how to 
enter and abide in the current of grace, as follows : 

"How am I to get into Christ Jesus and so abide in 
Him? There are two sides to this matter: by faith as my 
own act, and by regeneration as God's act. On the one 
hand, I repent of sin, and trust in Him as my Saviour. 
I deliberately choose to be in Him, in Him to live and 
move and have my being, to have Him surrounding and 
separating me from all else unto Himself, and providing 
me in Himself with all my needs and desires, and protect- 
ing me in Himself from all my fears and foes. 

"But all this would not introduce me into Christ as the 
new sphere of my life, but for the power of God. It is 
not enough to enter a new sphere of life. I must have 
capacity to live in that new sphere and to breathe its 
atmosphere. Every form of life has its sphere, and re- 
quires adaptation to it. As we have already seen, what is 
life to one animal may be death to another, and reversely. 
If the bird is to live in water, it needs gills; if the fish is 
to live in the air, it needs lungs. Every sphere of exist- 
ence has its laws, and demands adaptation of nature to 
enter into and live in the new element. Hence He who 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 121 

created us must re-create us, giving us the power or right 
to enter this new sphere of being, and the power or capac- 
ity to receive and enjoy life in Christ Jesus. 

"Both sides of this great matter are presented to us* 
in one or two verses in John I :i2, 13: 'As many as re- 
ceived Him, even to them that believe on His name, 
to them gave He power [right or authority] to become 
the sons of God : which were born not of blood, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' 
Here the believing or receiving is the human act of faith ; 
and the giving of power or capacity to become sons of 
God, to be born of God, is regeneration, the divine act 
of the new birth. 

"What a privilege to be thus insphered in Christ! Who 
can describe the security, the absolute safety, of a disciple 
who abides in Him? The more we search into the won- 
derful word of God, the more shall we be persuaded that 
there are concentric circles about God, and that the closer 
we get and keep to Him as center, the more immunity 
we shall have from evils of every sort. In the inmost 
circle of intimate fellowship perhaps no saint has ever 
yet dwelt. But who can limit the possibilities of a holy 
life? What closeness of union and communion may yet 
remain to be enjoyed by some who, more completely than 
has ever yet been realized, hide themselves in the pavilion 
of God, and abide in the secret place of the Most High, 
under the shadow of the Almighty, covered with His 
breast feathers and trusting under His wings. Psalm 91. 

"The whole challenge of our theme is in the direction 
of a full conformity to Christ. And what is conformity, 
but transformityf Rom. 12:2. To be conformed is to 
be transformed, to be so assimilated to God as to lose 
one's spiritual separation from Him." — "In Christ Jesus" 
pages 191-194. 

Yes, the possibilities of the new life in Christ are mar- 
velous. "All things are possible to him that believeth." 
The power of that life is unlimited. It took Abraham 



122 The Kingdom of God 

from heathenism, and made him the father of all be- 
lievers in Christ. It took Joseph from prison, and made 
him second ruler in Egypt. It took Moses from heirship 
to the throne of the Pharaohs, and made him leader of 
Israel and heir of the kingdom of God. It took David 
from a shepherd's life, and made him a king. It took 
Daniel from captivity, and made him prime minister of 
two of earth's greatest kingdoms. It took Paul the per- 
secutor, and made him one of the foremost apostles of 
Christ. Hear his testimony after he had proved the 
power of Christ in the new life of the Christian: "For 
to me to live is Christ." Do you say, "I believe it all, but 
I cannot reach the desired experience — I fail to live the 
life of faith successfully, and represent Christ aright"? 
Christ has commissioned His ambassadors to bear to you 
this message: "If any man sin, we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." An advocate is 
an attorney. "Jesus Christ the righteous" offers to take 
your case for you, without money and without price. 
Why do we need an attorney? — Because the case is be- 
yond our wisdom and power. For this very reason, Christ 
offers to take your case. Since He is Jesus Christ the 
righteous, He has righteousness to offer in your behalf. 
Every case trusted to Him is won. So, having placed 
your case in His hands, you may be at rest. This is the 
life of faith. Where faith begins, worry ends. Where 
worry begins, faith ends. 

A LIFE OF TRUST, REST AND PEACE 

Nothing is made clearer in the Scriptures than that 
the new life in Christ is a life of perfect resignation to 
the will of God, perfect trust, peace, and rest. It cannot 
be too often repeated that "Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace, whose mind is staid on Thee: because he trusteth 
in Thee." Blessed assurance! Perfect peace is the as- 
sured heritage of every trusting soul. Christ's dying be- 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 123 

quest to a struggling church, surrounded by foes from 
without, and imperiled by foes from within, was: "Peace 
I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the 
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be 
troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27. Fellow 
Christian, have you secured your legacy? It was left for 
you nineteen hundred years ago. It is yours on demand. 
Christ pleads with you to draw on Him for it. Hear 
once more His plea: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Are you 
weary and heavy-laden? That is all the claim you need 
to present. It is surer than a letter of credit on the Bank 
of England. It is yours on demand. Present it and be 
at rest. 

HOLINESS POSSIBLE TO ALL 

The standard is high, but none too high. The low 
standard of our natural life would be undesirable for an 
eternal life. But the standard raised for God's kingdom 
will make an endless life desirable. God has made pro- 
vision, in the gospel, for all to "come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a 
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the full- 
ness of Christ." Eph. 4:13. This is the desire of our 
almighty Friend, who stooped from the hilltops of glory 
to lift us up to God ; and by faith, we may clasp that lov- 
ing hand, and be at rest. 

God would have us "strengthened with all might, ac- 
cording to His glorious power." And He "would make 
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery 
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of 
glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teach- 
ing every man in all wisdom; that we may present every 
man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labor, 
striving according to His working, which worketh in me 
mightily." Col. 1:11, 27-29. 



124 The Kingdom of God 

Paul tried, as faithfully as human will is capable of 
trying, to make the change in and of himself. At last, in 
despair, he cried out: "How to perform that which is 
good I find not." "O wretched man that I am! who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:18, 24. 
Thousands decide, like Paul, every new year, to lead a 
new life by force of will power, and fail. At many thou- 
sands of shrines in heathen lands, the same resolve is 
made ; but failure results. Paul learned the secret of deliv- 
erance when he met Jesus on the Damascus road. He af- 
terward had a different story to relate. "I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. ... There is therefore 
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For 
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the Law of sin and death." Rom. 7 125 ; 8 :j, 2. 

It is not a question of dependence upon human will for 
transformation; it is a question of the creative power of 
God. One must exercise his will in choosing to enthrone 
Christ in the heart, but "it is God which worketh in 
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. 
2:13. No wonder that the theme of Paul was ever after, 
"His glorious power," "which worketh in me mightily." 
"God would make known what is the riches of the glory 
of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in 
you, the hope of glory." 

Hear the testimony of a modern man from among our- 
selves. George Muller prayed, believed, and received 
$500,000 to build orphanages to accommodate 21,000 or- 
phans. He then lived a life of constant trust, believing 
that God would annually provide for their needs; and he 
was not disappointed. Besides, God gave him a sum 
sufficient to aid other needy enterprises. Those who have 
put God to the test on the faith side of the question intel- 
ligently, for a worthy purpose, without presumption or 
selfish ambition, have never been disappointed. Mr. 
Muller began with rented quarters that would accom- 



Eternal Life Offered in Christ 125 

modate thirty children. He did not begin with 21,000. 
Faith despises not the day of small things. God gives the 
increase as it pleases Him. Many receive not, because 
they ask not; others ask, and receive not, because they ask 
amiss — to consume it upon their lusts. 

The more we study the wonderful privileges of those 
who live the new life in Christ, the more persuaded we 
are that we live far beneath our privileges. The Master 
wants us to come up with Him into the mount of bless- 
ing, and catch new glimpses of His power, His glory, and 
the blessings that belong to the Christ life. Is it any 
wonder that Paul, caught up into the third heaven, where 
he heard and saw the unspeakable glory of Christ at home 
with the angels, should ever after make the theme of con- 
versation, of prayer, of preaching, "the unsearchable riches 
of Christ"? Dear reader, will you not take Christ as the 
"all in all" of your life? 

"Then come to Christ. Oh, come to-day, 
The Father, Son, and Spirit say; 

The bride repeats the call; 
For He will cleanse your guilty stains, 
His love will soothe your weary pains, 
For 'Christ is all in all.'" 



CHAPTER XVII 

Liberty a Birthright 

T> ELIGIOUS liberty is a fundamental right of every 
-"man. It is soul liberty. It is the right of choice in 
religious matters. This right embraces the privilege of 
choosing to be unrighteous, as well as perfect freedom to 
be righteous. It leaves a man as free to do wrong as to 
do right, religiously. Since man's eternal destiny rests 
upon his voluntary choice to worship and obey God or not 
to worship and to disobey, God will not, and man cannot 
in right and justice, enforce obedience in the religious 
realm. Enforced obedience can only apply in things civil. 
God's call to sinners, since the fall, has always been, 
"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
Rev. 22:17. This shows that in God's great plan, the 
will of the individual is sovereign in the realm of religion. 
In the days of the Pharaohs, the Israelites were made 
slaves to the Egyptians. For about two hundred years this 
slavery continued. The Egyptians came to think they 
owned Israel, body and soul. Rights of conscience were 
totally disregarded. Jehovah sent this message to Pharaoh 
by the hand of Moses and Aaron: "Let My people go, 
that they may serve Me." He further instructed Moses 
and Aaron : "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 
I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the 
burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their 
bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, 
and with great judgments." Ex. 6:6. The ten plagues 
that came upon Egypt were God's first mighty protest 

126 



Liberty a Birthright 127 

against national interference with the religious rights of 
the people. 

In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the 
accusation was brought by some of the Chaldeans to the 
king, that the Jews "serve not thy gods, nor worship the 
golden image which thou hast set up." Dan. 3:8-12. 
This is another instance of national interference with the 
religious rights of citizens. Religious prejudice is the 
most cruel and relentless expression of bigotry. Because 
those men refused to worship heathen images, they were 
cast into the fiery furnace. In order forever to brand 
this infamous abuse of national power with the stamp of 
His displeasure, the Son of God stepped down from His 
royal throne on high, to stand with these subjects of 
the kingdom of Babjdon, who would rather die than sur- 
render their religious freedom. The fire burned off the 
cords that bound them, but, beyond that, had no effect. 
There were only three men involved in this refusal to 
worship according to the dictates of the state. God de- 
fended the rights of three men against a whole nation in 
their freedom of choice in religious matters. 

Under the reign of the Medes and Persians, some of 
the officials, who were unfriendly to the religious faith of 
the Hebrews, secured from the king a decree that no man 
should worship any god save the king for thirty days. 
This decree was secured through a fraudulent representa- 
tion. The king was informed that all the officers of state 
had agreed in making this request. Daniel, the prime 
minister of the kingdom, had, in fact, not been consulted. 
This is a specimen of the unfair dealings of men who de- 
termine to secure control of their fellow men religiously, 
by means of legislation. 

Upon this occasion, Daniel alone was the target at 
which the law was aimed. He was watched, and was 
found to worship God as usual. The matter was reported 
to'the king, and the king then for the first time under- 
stood the real import of the decree which he had been 



128 The Kingdom of God 

decoyed into signing. "Then the king . . . was sore 
displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to de- 
liver him : and he labored till the going down of the sun 
to deliver him." Dan. 6:14. He had only to be re- 
minded by these designing princes, who w T ere ready 
to sacrifice the grandest and truest citizen of their 
nation upon the altar of religious bigotry, that the de- 
cree was signed according to the unalterable law of the 
Medes and Persians, and the sentence assigning Daniel 
to the den of hungry lions for worshiping God was exe- 
cuted. 

God sent His angel, and closed the lions' mouths, so 
that no harm came to His servant. Christ, "the Lion of 
the tribe of Judah," prevailed in this instance, as before. 
The next morning, by order of the king, these religious 
zealots were cast into the same den into which Daniel 
had been thrust. The mouths of the lions, no longer 
muzzled by the angel sentinel, devoured with greedy relish 
these religious tyrants. 

This most striking defense of one man against a whole 
kingdom reduces the question of religious liberty to its 
lowest terms: One man possesses all religious rights, in 
spite of a whole nation. A nation has no right to inter- 
fere with the liberty of a single citizen in religious mat- 
ters. In civil things only is the civil government's sphere 
of legitimate legislation. God defends individuals in their 
right to religious freedom. He does not always deliver 
them, but He has given sufficient examples of deliverance 
for the instruction of all nations. 

In the days of King Ahasuerus, Haman and his friends, 
moved with envy against Mordecai and the Jews, secured 
a decree from the king to put the whole body of the Jews 
to death. Again the providence of God reversed the de- 
cree, and Haman was hanged upon the gallows erected for 
Mordecai. In this instance God again defended the 
rights of the unoffending citizens, who stood for religious 
freedom. 



Liberty a Birthright 129 

In the time of Christ, the Jews, who had so often them- 
selves been persecuted, turned persecutors, and entered 
complaints against Christ, because He did not follow their 
religious traditions. Two special charges were made 
against Him: "He made Himself the Son of God," and 
He did not keep the Sabbath day according to their cus- 
toms. They secured from Pilate His death sentence, and 
He was executed upon Calvary, a victim of religious legis- 
lation. 

Just before His execution, He unsheathed the sword 
of His kingdom, the word of God, and with eyes filled 
with tears of tenderness, and a voice eloquent with the 
pathos of pity for those who were blinded by religious 
bigotry, He cut away the mask of insincerity behind which 
those despots pursuing Him were hiding, and showecf 
them openly in all their deformity. Their true charac- 
ter as revealed was recorded for the benefit of succeeding 
nations, which would be besieged by zealous hypocrites 
under a similar guise of piety, for the enforcement of their 
religious creeds. Read the record of Christ's unmasking 
of the hypocrisy that seeks to dominate personal liberty 
of faith and worship, in Matt. 23:13-36. 

There never lived a purer, truer man than Jesus 
Christ. Yet the fawning Pilate, a presiding judge of a 
great Roman state, in the trial of Christ, while protest- 
ing the innocence of the accused, signed His death war- 
rant to please despotic priests and tyrannical Pharisees. 
The noble Man of Calvary, with full knowledge of the 
hypocrisy of the creed-bound priests who were His perse- 
cutors, and the parody on justice He had met before this 
earthly judgment bar, still prayed, "Father, forgive them; 
for they know not what they do." Oh, the pity that such 
a citizen must be sacrificed for the sake of a creed! Creed- 
bound zealots and unfaithful judge must some day an- 
swer at God's judgment bar for such crimes against in- 
dividual rights. Wherever the cross of Christ is reared, 
it forever advocates religious freedom. 



130 The Kingdom of God 

"Slavery, the earth-born Cyclops, fellest of the giant brood, 
Sons of brutish Force and Darkness, who have drenched 

the earth with blood, 
Famished in his self-made desert, blinded by our purer day, 
Gropes in yet unblasted regions for his miserable prey. 
Shall we guide his gory fingers where our helpless chil- 
dren play? 

"Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her 

wretched crust, 
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous 

to be just; 
Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands 

aside, 
Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, 
And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had 

denied. . . . 

"By the light of burning heretics, Christ's bleeding feet 

I track, 
Toiling up new Calvaries ever with the cross that turns 

not back; 
And these mounts of anguish number how each generation 

learned 
One new word of that grand creed which in prophet 

hearts hath burned 
Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face to 

heaven upturned. 

"For humanity sweeps onward: where to-day the martyr 
stands, 
On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his 

hands; 
Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling 

fagots burn, 
While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return 
To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn." 

— Lowell. 



THE GREAT COMMISSION 

Christ's disciples were imprisoned, scourged, and mal J 
treated by the state, because of the difference between 
their religious belief and that of the majority. Angels 



Liberty a Birthright 13 l 

were sent to open prison doors, and send them forth with 
the gospel according to the great commission, to every na- 
tion and every people. This commission is authoritative. 
It is from the King of kings, and Lord of lords. The 
gospel, by this commission, has the right of way in every 
nation. The teacher of the gospel is authorized to teach 
in every nation "all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you." No state or nation, therefore, can rightly legislate 
upon any religious question. Christ, not the state, is 
the power of the gospel. 

The effort to suppress Sunday opening of bars and 
Sunday recreation is but a weak subterfuge, under cover 
of which Sunday may be made a day of enforced religious 
worship. If the business of the public house is a criminal 
business on Sunday, it is equally true to its nature on 
Monday, or any other day of the week. If playing ball, 
attending races or theaters, or performing common labor, 
is criminal on Sunday, it is of the same nature on all seven 
days in the week. Who would argue that theft, rape, 
murder, or any other crime, should be prohibited by law 
on Sunday only? If laws are to be enacted against such 
things, they should be prohibited seven days in the week, 
and not merely on Sunday. The day upon which the act 
is committed does not affect the nature of the act. Legis- 
lation that tends towards changing the character of ac- 
tions according to the day on which they are performed is 
the result of religious preference for that day. The re- 
striction of the number of hours of daily labor for the 
relief of children of laborers is not founded upon the 
demand for the religious observance of a day. It is an al- 
together different class of legislation, and is a proper field 
of civil legislation. This in no way affects the claim that 
to choose for men their day of rest and worship is an in- 
terference with individual rights. 

When the Master declared, "God is a Spirit: and they 
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in 



132 The Kingdom of God 

truth," He raised Christianity to a position far above all 
earthly rule, and asserted its claim to soul liberty. This 
view of liberty it was that led Roger Williams to endure 
banishment from England, banishment from Salem, and 
banishment from Seekouk. His unqualified position was 
that soul liberty is man's inherent right. Others sought 
toleration; he demanded that all men should be left free 
to enjoy equally their God-given rights. 

England, whose religion was by force Roman Catholic 
under the reign of Queen Mary, was by force Protestant 
under Elizabeth. This exposed first Protestants and then 
Catholics to severe persecution, according to the religious 
prejudices of the reigning sovereign. Wearied with this 
condition of things in Europe, and seeing no hope of ref- 
ormation at hand, Roger Williams fled to the New 
World. Here he found Massachusetts Bay Colony, con- 
trolled by a great desire to found an orthodox state — "A 
state where the same theology should be preached in all 
the pulpits and believed at all the firesides, and where, 
generation after generation, her citizens could become re- 
ligious and virtuous according to state law." They 
seemed to be blind to the fact that the same legislative 
body -that could establish Christianity could as easily 
change its mind and establish infidelity. The French 
Revolution is a clear demonstration of this fact. To claim 
that it is right to establish the orthodox faith by law is to 
sanction the establishment of infidelity, and the enthrone- 
ment of the goddess of reason in France. 

For centuries before the Protestant reformation, and 
for more than a century afterward, "all nations had been, 
so to speak, the wards of some church." In the United 
States "our fathers founded the first government that said 
every church has exactly the same rights, and no more; 
every religion has exactly the same rights, and no more. 
In other words, our fathers were the first men who had 
the sense, had the genius, to know that no church should 
be allowed to have a sword, and that it should be allowed 



Liberty a Birthright 133 

only to exert its moral influence. "The history of the 
world warned them that the liberty of man was not safe 
in the clutch and grasp of any church." "They also knew 
that if they gave to any church favor, it would corrupt' 
the best church in the world." 

Emerson says : "The history of persecution is a history 
of endeavors to cheat nature. ... It makes no differ- 
ence whether the actors be many or one, a tyrant or a 
mob. A mob is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving 
themselves of reason, and traversing their work. The 
mob is a man voluntarily descending to the nature of a 
beast. Its fit hour of work is night. Its actions are in- 
sane, like its whole constitution. It persecutes a prin- 
ciple; it would whip a right; it would tar and feather 
justice by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and 
persons of those who have these. . . . The martyr 
cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of 
flame; every prison a more illustrious abode; every burned 
book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or 
expunged word reverberates through the earth from side 
to side. Hours of sanity and consideration are always 
arriving to communities, as to individuals, when the truth 
is seen, and the martyrs are justified." — "Essay on Com- 
pensation." 

Queen Victoria : "Firmly relying ourselves on the truth 
of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the sol- 
ace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire 
to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We de- 
clare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none be in 
any wise favored, none molested or disquieted, by reason 
of their religious faith or observance, but that all shall 
alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law; 
and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may 
be in authority under us, that they abstain from all in- 
terference with the religious belief or worship of any of 
our subjects, on pain of our highest displeasure." — Proc- 
lamation, 1858. 



134 The Kingdom of God 

Gladstone: "Wherever the British rule exists, the 
same respect which we claim for the exercise of our own 
conscientious convictions is yielded to the professors of 
other faith on the surface of the globe." — "Prime Minis- 
ter of the British Parliament Under Queen Victoria" 
page 363. 

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and 
only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind 
would be no more justified in silencing that one person 
than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silenc- 
ing mankind. . . . The peculiar evil of silencing the 
expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human 
race — posterity as well as the existing generation; those 
who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who 
hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the 
opportunity of exchanging error for truth ; if wrong, they 
lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer percep- 
tion and livelier impression of truth produced by its col- 
lision with error. . . All silencing of discussion is an 
assumption of infallibility. . . . Complete liberty of 
contradicting and disproving our opinion is the very con- 
dition which justifies us in assuming its truth for the pur- 
poses of action; and on no other terms can a being with 
human faculties have any rational assurance of being 
right." — John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty!' pages 10, II. 

Spurgeon, the great English preacher, said: "I am 
ashamed of some Christians, because they have so much' 
dependence on Parliament and the law of the land. Much 
good may Parliament ever do to true religion, except by 
mistake! As to getting the law of the land to touch our 
religion, we earnestly cry, 'Hands off! Leave us alone!' 
Your Sunday bills and all other forms of act-of-Parlia- 
ment religion seem to me to be all wrong. Give us a fair 
field and no favor, and our faith has no cause to fear. 
Christ wants no help from Caesar. I should be afraid to 
borrow help from government; it would look to me as if 
I rested on an arm of flesh instead of depending on the 



Liberty a Birthright 135 

living God. Let the Lord's day be respected, by all 
means, and may the day soon come when every shop shall 
be closed on the Sabbath; but let it be by the force of 
conviction, and not by the force of the policeman ; let true 
religion triumph by the power of God in men's hearts, 
and not by the power of fines and imprisonments." 

The Author of Christianity will never enforce His 
teachings by civil enactments; and He demands that all 
people be left free to believe or disbelieve His gospel, with 
no state interference. The final judgment will decide 
each man's destiny according to his acceptance or rejec- 
tion of the gospel of Christ. It is a question of eternal 
damnation, and Christ demands that it be not a question 
of human legislation. 

"If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge 
him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save 
the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My 
words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have 
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Johrf 
12:47, 48^ 

God is judge in the realm of religion, man in things 
civil. God alone punishes subjects of His moral govern- 
ment for transgression. He deals with sin, first by seek- 
ing to remove it by atonement and by inflicting penalties 
upon the finally impenitent only. Hence, as Christ says, 
such judgment is reserved until the final Judgment day. 
Rev. 20:11, 12. For this reason, Paul says, "Therefore 
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." 1 
Cor. 4:5. The state deals with crime and incivility. In 
that realm, it has freedom of judgment. Crime has to do 
alone with man's relation to his fellow men. The state 
has no right, therefore, to legislate upon the relations of 
man with God. The first four precepts of the divine 
law deal only with that relation. It is a purely religious 
realm. In it the state has no legitimate field of legisla- 
tion. The last six precepts pertain to man's moral rela- 
tions to his neighbor. They involve the secret thoughts. 



136 The Kingdom of God 

Matt. 5:21, 27; Ex. 20:17. The state cannot there- 
fore deal with transgression of the last six precepts of the 
moral law, as they relate to sin. The Inquisition of the 
Middle Ages is an example of an attempt to do so. The 
state may justly enact laws dealing with crime and in- 
civility only. It has no more right to compel heathen in 
Christian lands to adopt the Christian forms of religion 
than it has in the heathen lands to compel Christians there 
to adopt forms of heathenism. The Divine Lawgiver 
laid down the only infallible rule to safeguard the in- 
dividual rights of Christian, Jew, infidel, Buddhist, or 
Confucianist alike, in the memorable statement universally 
known as the Golden Rule of man's proper relation to his 
fellow men: ^Therefore all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for 
this is the law and the prophets." Matt. 7:12. 

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or 

evil side; 
Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the 

bloom or blight, 
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon 

the right, 
And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and 

that light. 

"Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou 

shalt stand, 
Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust 

against our land? 
Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet 'tis Truth alone is 

strong, 
And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her 

throng 
Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all 

wrong." 

— Lowell. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Restoration Conditioned Upon a New Birth 

\/fAN entered the world by creation. Since the days 
*■**• of Adam, life has been given to each man by a birth. 
So by creation and a new birth, man must enter the king- 
dom of God, and begin life as a subject of that kingdom. 
"Life only from life" is a universal law. It is as true in 
the spiritual as in the natural realm. The new birth, by 
which a man is translated from the kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1 113), is there- 
fore essential to man's entering upon life as a loyal sub- 
ject of the heavenly King. 

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can 
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 
Cor. 2:14. Between the Christian and the unconverted 
man, in their relation to spiritual things, the distinction 
is as great as that between the organic and the inorganic 
in the natural world. In nature, the organic is living, and 
the inorganic is dead. In the spiritual realm, the new 
birth is the passing "from death unto life." 1 John 3:14. 

The statement of Christ, "Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3), is in 
harmony with both the natural and the spiritual law of 
transformation from a lower to a higher kingdom. Henry 
Drummond, in his very able treatise upon this subject, 
presents it thus: 

"The passage from the natural world to the spiritual 
world is hermetically sealed on the natural side. The 
door from the inorganic to the organic is shut. No min- 

137 



138 The Kingdom of God 

eral can open it. This world of natural men is staked 
off from the spiritual world by barriers which have never 
yet been crossed from within. No organic change, no 
modification of environment, no mental energy, no moral 
effort, no evolution of character, no progress of civiliza- 
tion, can endow any single human soul with the attribute 
of spiritual life. The spiritual world is guarded from the 
world next in order from beneath it by a law of biogenesis 
— except a man be born again. . . . Except a man 
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God, 

"It is not said, in this enunciation of the law, that if 
the condition be not fulfilled, the natural man will not 
enter the kingdom of God. The word is 'cannot.' The 
exclusion of the spiritually inorganic from the spiritually 
organic is not arbitrary. Nor is the natural man refused 
admission on unexplained grounds. His admission is a 
scientific impossibility. Except a mineral be born 'from 
above' — from the kingdom just above it — it cannot 
enter the kingdom just above it. And except a man be 
born 'from above,' by the same law, he cannot enter the 
kingdom just above him. There being no passage from 
one kingdom to another, whether from inorganic to or- 
ganic, or from organic to spiritual, the intervention of 
life is a scientific necessity if a stone or a plant or an 
animal or a man is to pass from a lower to a higher sphere. 
The plant stretches down to the dead world beneath it, 
touches its minerals and gases with its mystery of life, 
and brings them up, ennobled and transformed, to the 
living sphere. The breath of God, blowing where it 
listeth, touches with its mystery of life the dead souls of 
men, bears them across the bridgeless gulf between the 
natural and the spiritual, between the spiritually inorgan- 
ic and the spiritually organic, endows them with its own 
high qualities, and develops within them these new and 
secret faculties, by which those who are born again are 
said to see the kingdom of God. . . . 



Restoration Conditioned Upon a New Birth 139 

"The words of Scripture which preface this inquiry con- 
tain an explicit and original statement of the law of 
biogenesis for the spiritual life. 'He that hath the Son 
hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not 
life.' 1 John 5:12. Life, that is to say, depends upon 
contact with life. It cannot spring up of itself. It can- 
not develop out of anything that is not life. There is no 
spontaneous generation in religion any more than in na- 
ture. Christ is the source of life in the spiritual world; 
and he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath 
not the Son, whatever else he may have, hath not life." — 
"Natural Law in the Spiritual World" pages 71-74. 

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in- 
corruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abid- 
eth forever." 1 Peter 1 123. "Therefore if any man be 
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed 
away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. 
"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hy- 
pocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn 
babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may 
grow thereby." 1 Peter 2:1, 2. 

It is here made very plain that man's entrance into the 
spiritual kingdom from the natural is by "being born 
again." By this new birth, he becomes an entirely new 
creature. His old life passes away in the transaction, 
nnd he begins life again, on an entirely different scale. 
The new life must be according to the scale of the king- 
dom of God. This is as truly life in the spiritual realm 
as is the natural life in the natural realm. To live the 
spiritual life is not difficult if one makes thorough work 
in surrendering the old life and its methods at the start; 
for, says Christ, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is 
light." Matt. 1 1 :3c Christ, the Author of the new 
life, promises new companionship and new power com- 
mensurate with the needs of the new life. Zech. 3:1-7; 
Matt. 28:18-20. 

This is not a doctrine peculiar to what is termed "the 



140 The Kingdom of God 

Christian dispensation." It was taught by Moses to 
Israel; and "they drank of that spiritual Rock that fol- 
lowed them: and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4. 
It was taught by the prophet Jeremiah as the basis of the 
new covenant. Jer. 31:31-34. Ezekiel taught "a new 
heart" and a "new spirit" as the result of the new birth. 
Ezek. 36:25-27. Except we have this change from the 
natural to the spiritual life, we are none of His. Rom. 
8:9. It is a change of disposition. Rom. 8:15. It is the 
spirit of the family into which we are adopted. Such was 
in fact the teaching of all the Old Testament writers. 
It was impossible that they should teach otherwise and 
teach a saving gospel; for there is salvation in no other 
way or name than Jesus. Acts 4:12. 

UNIVERSAL PARDON PROCLAIMED 

The love and justice of God are manifested in that 
there is no respect of persons in any of His plans. Char- 
acters, not persons, are respected. "All have sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3 :23. All man- 
kind, therefore, are in need of pardon. From the very 
depths of the heart of infinite love comes the proclama- 
tion, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth." Isa. 45 :22. God includes all intelligent beings 
in one family. Eph. 3:14, 15. 

That the plan to pardon sinners was designed to em- 
brace the lost in heaven as well as those on the earth, is 
evident from Eph. 1 :io and Col. 1 :20. 

ACCEPTANCE OF PARDON VOLUNTARY 

Although universal pardon, embracing all sinners 
throughout God's universe, has been provided, not all will 
be saved, for not all will accept the conditions. All are 
saved from the result of Adam's sin, regardless of their 
choice. Since the fall of Satan, every sinner has lived by 



Restoration Conditioned Upon a Neiv Birth 141 

virtue of the plan of salvation. God provided and of- 
fered redemption without consulting those for whom it 
was designed; and all are partakers of its blessings, 
whether they will it or not. Its plan not only provides 
for the needs of all during life, but will bring every man 
up from the grave, regardless of his volition. Paul says, 
"We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all 
men, specially of those that believe." 1 Tim. 4:10. The 
eternal enjoyment of life, after the resurrection of the 
righteous and the wicked, will depend w T holly upon the 
use man makes of it during his natural or probationary 
period. The question he must settle is whether or not 
he will be born again. 

STEPS TO THE NEW BIRTH 

The steps that lead to the new birth are very plain. 
The first step is faith in God. "He that cometh to 
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek Him." Heb. 11:6. If un- 
believing, one may increase faith by a very simple process. 
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
God." Rom. 10:17. Proof of the genuineness of this 
Scripture lies in the experience of millions of Christians. 
Would you have an increased faith, put this promise of 
God to the test; read the Textbook of His kingdom 
more, and your faith will increase. 

Second, repentance and confession of sin. "If we con- 
fess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 
1 :cj. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3 14. 
To repent is to face the direction opposite to that which 
we have been going. Having in the past been transgres- 
sors of God's law, we are now called to a life of obedi- 
ence. Ezek. 18:21, 22; 1 Peter 2:21, 22. By confes- 
sion one acknowledges guilt, asks pardon, and pledges 
future obedience. 



142 The Kingdom of God 



UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER 

The third condition of pardon to rebellious subjects is 
unconditional surrender. After rebels have stacked their 
arms and made an unconditional surrender, they may be 
pardoned. Even the leader of a rebellion may be freely 
pardoned if he swears allegiance to the laws of the gov- 
ernment. In this way, union and peace may be restored. 
But one of the things that is hardest to surrender is one's 
own way. That rebellious feeling against having our 
way governed by God's law is the result of the rebellious 
spirit which we have inherited from Adam. In the fall, 
"we have turned every one to his own way." Isa. 53:6. 
But our wills must be surrendered to God absolutely, 
if we would receive pardon for sin. "Seek ye the Lord 
while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is 
near : let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and 
He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He 
will abundantly pardon." Isa. 55 :6, 7. 

Satan and his angels rebelled against the will of God, 
and were determined to have their own way. They de- 
termined to maintain their position in the kingdom also; 
but they were cast out. "If God spared not the angels 
that sinned, but cast them down to hell," and spared not 
the cities of the plains, because they despised government, 
were presumptuous, self-willed, and not afraid to speak 
evil of dignities, but "turning the cities of Sodom and 
Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, 
making them an ensample unto those that after should 
live ungodly" (2 Peter 2:4, 6), He will not spare 
those who now refuse to surrender to His plans and 
laws. Christ taught His disciples to pray daily: "Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in 
heaven." Matt. 6:10. 

Fourth, restitution. "If the wicked restore the pledge, 



Restoration Conditioned Upon a New Birth 143 

give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of 
life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he 
shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed 
shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which 
is lawful and right; he shall surely live." Ezek. 33:15, 
16. If he is unable to make restitution, the debt is for- 
given. Matt. 18:27. 

Fifth, faith for a perfect life. This is one of the weak- 
est points in the experience of most new converts. They 
believe that God is; they repent and confess their sins; 
they give again where they have robbed; but they fail 
to believe that God will keep His word, forgive all their 
transgressions, and restore them to the perfect life of 
Christ. Their faith is w T eak. It will be strengthened 
by exercise, prayer, and the reading of the Word. Their 
only hope lies in living by the sincere milk pi the Word. 
God's forgiveness is applied as soon as the steps have 
been taken which He has said insure forgiveness. God 
cannot lie. His promises never fail. They are invari- 
ably fulfilled to believers. 

Sixth, a new birth test. "We know that we have 
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. 
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." "Who- 
soever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth 
hath not seen Him neither known Him." 1 John 3:14, 
6. But we know that we love the brethren when we 
love God, and gladly keep His commandments. 1 John 
5:2, 3. 

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM 

The new birth is a call from slavery to freedom. "The 
captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that 
he should not die in the pit." Isa. 51:14. Man hates 
slavery and loves freedom. If he is shut away from 
light and liberty, he longs for release. If some emanci- 
pator is found to bring him release, he "hasteneth" for 
freedom, lest he should "die in the pit." 



144 The Kingdom of God 

Since the fall, the whole world has been a prison house 
of darkness for all who are slaves of sin. But an Eman- 
cipator has come to unlock the prison doors and set free 
every soul chained in the dungeon of spiritual darkness. 
Shall any, because their deeds are evil, choose darkness 
rather than light, when Christ stands with outstretched 
hands entreating, "Come unto Me, and I will give you 
rest"? "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall 
eat the good of the land." Isa. 1:18, 19. 

God desires that every soul shall accept His freedom 
in Christ Jesus. "Ye have not received the spirit of 
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit 
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. 8:15. 

Marvelous transformation — from slavery to sonship in 
the family of God! Love is the ruling passion, the 
science and the song of that heavenly family. Love will 
be the law of every redeemed soul who accepts pardon 
and deliverance through the infinite sacrifice of Calvary. 

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out 
fear." 1 John 4:16. In that kingdom of eternal love, 
there will be no taint of slavery, no torment of fear. 
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free." "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye 
shall be free indeed." John 8:32, 36. The great truth 
of the infinite love of God and Christ in the sacrifice 
culminative upon Calvary is the everlasting pledge of the 
eternal freedom of love. "There is therefore now no 
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who 
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:1, 2. 

It will be the delight of every emancipated soul to do 
the will of God. The law of love will be written in 
the heart by the spirit of love that has made him free. 

We are thus born from above, born of the Spirit and 



Restoration Conditioned Upon a New Birth 145 

the love of God. The soul that is thus won from the 
paths of sin to association with the pure and holy is 
bound, by closer ties than those of blood, with sinless 
angels and blood-washed saints, in the common brother- 
hood of the kingdom of love. Every weary and heavy- 
laden soul may believe, accept the Master's call, and 
find rest and salvation through Jesus, the sinner's Friend 
and Saviour. 

Being born from above into the kingdom of love, the 
renewed soul is won to everlasting allegiance to the law 
of love. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His 
commandments: and His commandments are not griev- 
ous." 1 John 5 .-3. "Love worketh no ill to his neigh- 
bor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 
13:10. 

Our victory lies not in our feelings, but in our faith 
in the Word which proclaims our emancipation from 
sin, and our adoption into the family of God. "For 
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and 
this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our 
faith." 1 John 5:4. 

Sin-burdened soul, God so loves you that He gave 
His only-begotten Son that you should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. He sent not His Son into the 
world to condemn you, but to save you. Jesus loves 
you, and seeks to save you. "Greater love hath no man 
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 
Jesus laid aside His robes of kingly glory, and stepped 
down from the highest position of official honor in the 
universe, to bear the burden of your sins and mine, in 
His own body, upon the cross of Calvary. He so loved 
us that He washed us from our sins in His own blood, 
that He might restore us to the everlasting kingdom 
of peace and love from w 7 hich we had fallen by sin. 



CHAPTER XIX 

A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 

\X7HEN, in the councils of eternity, God and Christ 
* * planned the creation and peopling of God's universal 
kingdom with free subjects, and took the risk of the 
entrance of sin and death, "the counsel of peace was 
between Them both." Zech. 6:13. The counsel of 
"peace through the blood of the cross" was a part af 
God's eternal purpose in His creative plan. Eph. 3 :8- 
11. A plan for the salvation of all intelligent subjects 
was laid before the creative act gave them life. 

By virtue of this plan, Christ is called "the Lamb 
slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. 13:8. 
Paul, in writing to Timothy, calls this gospel provision 
"His own purpose and grace, which was given us in 
Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. 1:19. 
Concluding his epistle to the Romans, he called it "the 
revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since 
the world began, but now is . . . made known to all 
nations for the obedience of faith." Rom. 16:25, 26. 

REDEMPTION PROVIDED FOR BOTH ANGELS AND MEN 

God was not caught short-handed in His provisions 
to meet the emergency of the entrance of sin. He had 
provided a plan in advance that was adequate to recover 
from sin all intelligent creatures of His creation, whether 
angels or men. Both in creation and in redemption, He 
deals with the universe as His family. Paul says, "For 
this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord 

146 



A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 147 

Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and 
earth is named." Eph. 3:14, 15. "That in the dispen- 
sation of the fullness of times He might gather together 
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 
and which are on earth." Eph. 1:10. "And, having 
made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to 
reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether 
they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Col. 1 :20. 

This plan for the restoration of sinners by adoption 
into the family of God was God's eternal purpose; and 
it was "foreordained before the foundation of the world" 
that Christ was to become the voluntary substitute for lost^ 
angels and men, "according as He hath chosen us in 
Him, . . . having predestinated us unto the adoption of 
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, . . . wherein He 
hath made us accepted in the Beloved." 1 Peter 1:18- 
20 ; Eph. 1 :3-6. The plan was hid in the Godhead until 
the entrance of sin required its announcement. Eph. 
3:8-11. No sinner in the universe could ever say that 
he would not have sinned if he had not known that 
provision had been made for his restoration. Provision 
was made, in God's plan, for the restoration of every 
fallen angel and man. The only reason there will not 
be universal salvation is that not all the lost are as will- 
ing to be saved as God is to save them. Provision has 
been made for universal salvation, but not all will ac- 
cept it on the terms upon which it is offered. The Lord 
is "not willing that any should perish." 2 Peter 3:9. 
"Whosoever will" may come. Rev. 22:17. The condi- 
tions now are obedience and life, disobedience and death, 
as in the days of Adam. Rom. 5:19; Rev. 22:14, 19. 

Full provision was offered in Christ to make perfect 
obedience possible. Since, in the transgression of Adam, 
the race of mankind had fallen, he could transmit to his 
offspring only the sinful nature which he himself pos- 
sessed. By the natural law of transmission, the iniquity 
of Adam must be visited upon the race. "By the offense 



148 The Kingdom of God 

of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." 
Rom. 5:18. Judgment had been rendered, the verdict 
announced, and the world ruined by rebellion. "Where- 
fore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and 
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that 
all have sinned." Verse 12. 

Man could offer no reasonable excuse for sin. God's 
proclamation was plain: "Of the tree of the knowledge 
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the 
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 
2:17. This prohibition was man's test of loyalty to 
God and His government. Eve informed Satan that 
God had made this definite prohibition. Gen. 3 :3. She 
could not therefore plead ignorance of the law. The 
penalty for its transgression was death. The death 
penalty was due the day man sinned. If it had been 
executed that day, the race of mankind would have per- 
ished in Adam. Why was it not executed? — Jesus of- 
fered to take man's place, and bear the penalty in his 
stead. He said, "I will ransom them from the power 
of the grave; I will redeem them from death." Hosea 
13:14. "For we must needs die, and are as water spilt 
on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; 
neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise 
means, that His banished be not expelled from Him," 
or, as the margin reads, "Because God hath not taken 
away his life, He hath also devised means." 2 Sam. 
14:14. Adam's life must have been taken away that day, if 
God had not devised means to spare it, by another vol- 
unteering to act as his substitute under the death sen- 
tence. By that means, His banished was not expelled 
from Him. "Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, 
Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found 
a ransom." Job 33 124. The means devised was the 
ransom that saved man from execution the day that he 
sinned. This view is confirmed by Paul's statement, 
"There is one God, and one Mediator between God and 



A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 149 

men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom 
for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Tim. 2:5, 6. 

CHRIST MAN'S VOLUNTARY SUBSTITUTE 

The very day that Adam sinned, God sought him in 
the garden, and offered him a ransom in the promise 
that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's 
head. Gen. 3:15. This promise was renewed to 
Abraham. Gen. 17:19. The promised seed was Christ, 
the sinner's ransom. "Now to Abraham and his seed 
were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as 
of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is 
Christ." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's 
seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:16, 29. 

Why did not God pardon the sinner without the sac- 
rifice of Christ? It was not because He did not love 
the sinner sufficiently. "For God so loved the world, that 
He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
John 3:16. To offer pardon for any violation of 
law, without inflicting its penalty, would itself be a vio- 
lation of the inherent authority of moral law. As in 
science there are certain fundamental rules that lie at 
the foundation, and enter into the solution of all scientific 
problems, so in morals there are ten fundamental rules 
that lie at the foundation of God's government, and 
enter into the solution of all moral questions. 

In the provisions of a plan of pardon, the dignity 
of the law must be recognized. God could not wipe the 
slate, and call the account of sin balanced. The Law- 
giver must either inflict punishment, or take it upon 
Himself. He chose to take it upon Himself that He 
might save the guilty. 

Christ began the work of atonement for man by such 
a life of perfect obedience as does justice to God's holi- 
ness and to the righteous requirements of His holy law. 



150 The Kingdom of God 

He began it at the very point where man had failed. 
In taking man's place, He must be just before the law, 
or He could never justify the transgressor. He must 
sense the sinfulness of sin as God feels it, as well as ac- 
cept its judgment for men. He must justify God's deal- 
ing with sin while suffering its penalty. 

This Christ did as man's voluntary substitute. "For 
if by one man's offense death reigned by one ; much more 
they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift 
of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon 
all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of 
one the free gift came upon all men unto justification 
of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made 
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made 
righteous." "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even 
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal 
life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 5:17-19, 21. 

Though tempted in all points like as we are, Jesus 
lived His entire life for man, without sin, Heb. 4:15, 
and thus vindicated the justice of God in requiring obe- 
dience to the law, by demonstrating man could have lived 
it perfectly, by faith, in Paradise. As a man, He lived 
the law of God inviolate in a world of rebellion. 

When Christ took man's place, the Father "laid on 
Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6. In accepting 
the death penalty for all, Christ paid the full penalty. 
He acknowledged that the death sentence was just. Here 
His obedience reached its climax, and His vindication of 
God's justice was complete. 

God did not arbitrarily lay the sins of the world upon 
Christ. The counsel of peace was between Them both. 
Zech. 6:13. Jesus, as man's substitute, exercised the 
same freedom of choice, at every step of His voluntary 
substitution, that man had exercised in his relation to 
sin. It was this right of freedom to choose, at every 
step, whether He would proceed further with the plan 



A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 15 1 

to save man at the tremendous sacrifice it involved, that 
caused the bitter cup of man's sin in Gethsemane and at 
the cross to tremble in His hand. It was not until He 
had voluntarily said, "Nevertheless not My will, but 
Thine, be done," that He paid the extreme penalty. The 
utterance, "My God, My God, why hast Thou for- 
saken Me?" wrung from His breaking heart, was His 
hopeless wail as our sins separated Him from God. 
Mark 15:34. Christ's death was conclusive evidence 
that sin must be punished, that its judgments must be 
executed the same when it is voluntarily taken by God's 
own innocent and beloved Son, as when it falls upon 
the most hardened, impenitent sinner. 

Christ's death upon Calvary was not to appease the 
wrath of an offended God against the sinner. Neither 
was it the death of a martyred hero. It was the climax 
of the love of God for the sinner. It was the demon- 
stration of His perfect and unalterable government. "But 
God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, 
being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from 
wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, 
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, 
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His 
life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received 
the atonement." Rom. 5:8-11. The marginal reading 
for "atonement" is "reconciliation." Atonement is at- 
one-ment. It is the restoration of the sinner to a posi- 
tion where he is at one with God, and, through the love 
of God, with his fellow man. 

VICARIOUS SUFFERING 

The vicarious sacrifice of Christ is not mere senti- 
ment. It is the central fact of both the Old and the 
New Testament Scriptures. "Without shedding of blood 



152 The Kingdom of God 

is no remission." Heb. 9:22. "For the love of Christ 
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One 
died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for 
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves; but unto Him which died for them, and 
rose again." 2 Cor. 5:14, 15. "Surely He hath borne 
our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem 
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Isa. 53:4. 

The pagan conception of suffering is that it is to ap- 
pease God's wrath against the sinner. Those who have 
become affected by paganized conceptions of Christianity 
have viewed the sufferings of Christ in that way. This 
would make of an infinitely loving God a demon of 
hatred. Satan's plan has been, ever since his fall, to 
make God appear as an exacting judge standing over the 
sinner with the sword of justice, only awaiting an op- 
portunity to wreak upon him His vengeance, in the en- 
forcement of an arbitrary law. He has ever sought to 
attribute all of the suffering that sin has occasioned, to 
the vengeance of an unjust God. Christ's death upon 
Calvary unmasked Satan's malicious scheme to under- 
mine thus the character of God, by revealing His love. 
At the cross, it was seen that "He was wounded for 
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: 
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with 
His stripes we are healed." Isa. 53:5. 

The cross was the climax of Christ's life of love. He 
had volunteered to be made sin for us, that He might 
make us sinless. "He hath made Him to be sin for us, 
who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteous- 
ness of God in Him." We hear the suffering Son plead 
in agony of soul to be spared from drinking our bitter 
draught; but the Father cannot spare Him the agony 
of Gethsemane and Calvary and save the lost. He must, 
as our substitute, feel the depths of our separation, by 
sin, from a holy God. 



A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 153 



A DIVINE SACRIFICE 

Christ's death was the death of God for humanity. 
A human sacrifice could not atone for sin. He came as 
"Immanuel," "God with us." He was Divinity clothed' 
in humanity, Son of God and Son of man. As man, 
He lived a sinless life, in all things "made like unto His 
brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High 
Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation 
for the sins of the people." Heb. 2:17. 

When man sinned, he lost his all, not as one who loses 
his watch, or his purse, which may be restored to him. 
His loss was "as water spilt on the ground, which can- 
not be gathered up again." His innocence was blotted 
out by his guilt; his purity was annihilated by his pol- 
lution; his liberty was destroyed by his bondage; his 
glory was changed into his shame ; his peace was engulfed 
by his troubles; his joy was turned into sorrow; and his 
life was lost forever. Total extermination was his only 
destiny. Nothing could avail for man except a vicarious 
sacrifice. His Saviour must step into his place, and take 
all of his responsibilities, with their awful consequences. 
But even this could not help man unless his Substitute 
literally gave to him His own eternal riches. 

In taking upon Himself the sins of all sinners, Jesus 
felt the depths of agony, in Gethsemane and upon Cal- 
vary, with which the finally impenitent will be over- 
whelmed in their destruction. He was left alone under 
the awful burden of a world's accumulated sin and shame, 
an outcast, separated from God, awaiting the doom of 
the sinner as his substitute. All this, however, was a 
mere shadow of His sacrifice. He was still the only 
Son and Heir of Jehovah. Heb. 1:2-5; Col. 1:16, 17. 
Eternal life was His by right. John 5:26; 1:4. His 
purity was absolute. 1 John 3 13. His power was un- 
limited. Heb. 1:3; Matt. 11:27. His liberty and peace 



154 The Kingdom of God 

were boundless. Eph. 2:14; 2 Thess. 3:16. His glory 
was sublime. Heb. 1 13. In fact, all things were His. 
Will He — can He — give His all unsullied and untar- 
nished, for all eternity, to man, who deserved nothing ex- 
cept his own reward for his own treasonable life? Here- 
in lies the great marvel and mystery of redemption; for 
this is just what He did. God tells us that though He 
was rich, for our sakes He became poor, that we through 
His poverty might be made rich. 2 Cor. 8:9. His di- 
vine sacrifice left Him nothing but the grave, while it 
made men sons and heirs of Jehovah, "possessing all 
things." 2 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 4:6, 7. His gift lifts man 
from the lowest depths and causes him to inherit the 

THRONE OF GLORY. I Sam. 2 :8. 

Christ's sacrifice for the lost in becoming man's volun- 
tary substitute, consisted in exchange of places with us. 
He not only took upon Himself our burden of sin, but 
He gave in exchange "His life," "righteousness," "di- 
vine nature," "love," "joy," "peace," and kingdom, with 
all its glory with His Father. He did not bring back 
what had been ours, for that we had eternally lost. He 
gave His riches in glory, and all that was His, to us. 
Engulfed in our sins, heartbroken under our reproach, 
poor in our poverty, hopeless in our loss, He met our 
doom, that we, through His sacrificial poverty, might 
eternally enjoy His bliss, riches, and glory. 

Since in His sacrifice for the lost, He transferred to 
us His life, and took our death, exchanged His riches 
for our poverty, then in order for Him again to possess 
life, kingship, and glory with the Father, God must 
raise Him from the dead, and bestow these riches upon 
Him as a gift. John 5:26; Dan. 7:13, 14; Luke 1:32, 

33- 

Such love, such condescension, such a sacrifice, Jehovah 
would not permit to go unrewarded; so He gave our 
Substitute a resurrection, and placed Him at His own 
right hand, far above principalities and powers. Eph. 



A Vicarious Sacrifice Necessary 155 

1:17-23; Acts 2:24, 32, 33; Rom. 6:4. Of the Father's 
gift to the Son, Isaiah had a clear vision; for he said that 
the government should finally be given to Him, and the 
name that is above every name, — "the everlasting Father." 
Isa. 9 :6. Paul also saw the Son exalted to a position that 
He had never before occupied. Phil. 2 :g ; Eph. 1 120, 
21; 1 Cor. 15:24-28. Thus it is clearly revealed that 
Jesus gave His all to man for all time, and that the 
Father sacrifices for all eternity in His gifts to His Son. 
All the hosts of the universe will say with a loud voice, 
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing/' Rev. 5:12. 

No wonder the aged servant of God, who had re- 
ceived so many revelations, should exclaim, "Great and 
marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just 
and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." Rev. 
15:3. "And every creature which is in heaven, and on 
the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and 
ever." 



CHAPTER XX 

Christ the Restorer 

*TpHE Son of God became Jesus the Saviour, that He 
might become Christ the Restorer. Satan sought to 
involve the conception of the mission of Christ in doubt. 
Recognizing this, Jesus asked, "What think ye of Christ? 
whose son is He?" Matt. 22:42. On this point, John 
the Baptist had testified: "Behold the Lamb of God, 
which taketh away the sin of the world." "I saw, and 
bear record that this is the Son of God." John 1 :29, 34. 

Again Christ says, "But I have greater witness than 
that of John." John 5 :36. By what authority does 
Christ speak? How may we be assured that Jesus of 
Nazareth is the Son of God? The question is a fair 
one. He says, "Search the Scriptures, for . . . they are 
they which testify of Me." John 5:39. The Holy 
Scriptures, comprising the Old and the New Testament, 
are specifically mentioned by our divine Lord as "My 
two witnesses." Rev. 1 1 13. And He may be said to 
present yet another witness ; for upon one occasion during 
His earthly ministry, He declared, "The works which 
the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that 
I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me." 
John 5 :36. Although the last two witnesses cited are 
really one, we shall make use of three divisions. 

In Judicial cases, men are fair enough to examine a 
man's witnesses before passing judgment upon him. Shall 
we be less just in deciding upon the correctness of the 
claims of One who declares that He has conclusive evi- 
dence that He is the Son of God, who has come down 

156 



Christ the Restorer 157 

from heaven to restore the kingdom of God from inva- 
sion, and save the lost ? He produces three witnesses, 
upon whose testimony He is willing to rest His case. 
Their names are "Old Testament," "New Testament," 
and "The works which I do." 

Let us examine His witnesses, and see if their testi- 
monies agree, and upon what evidence they assure us 
that He is the Son of God and the Saviour of mankind. 

The first witness begins to testify fourteen hundred 
years before the other two. There never was a better 
opportunity given, in any trial, to detect false evidence. 
All must admit that Christ's appeal is fair. 

CHRIST ON TRIAL 

Old Testament : He was with the Father in the work 
of creation. "And God said, Let Us make man in Our 
image, after Our likeness." Gen. i :26. 

New Testament: "God . . . hath in these last days 
spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed 
heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." 
Heb. 1:1-3. "For by Him were all things created." 
Col. 1 :6. 

Old Testament: The fall is recognized as the result 
of Satan's apostasy; and Christ, the promised seed of the 
woman, is set forth as the only hope of redemption. "The 
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Gen. 3:13. "I 
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and be- 
tween thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, 
and thou shalt bruise His heel." Gen. 3:15. 

New Testament: "The Son of man is come to seek 
and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10. 

Old Testament: As through the woman came the 
fall, so through the seed of the woman must come re- 
demption. The true Messiah must therefore be born 
of the seed of the woman. "Therefore the Lord Himself 
shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and 



158 The Kingdom of God 

bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isa. 
7:14. 

New Testament : "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was 
on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused 
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with 
child of the Holy Ghost." "And she shall bring forth 
a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He 
shall save His people from their sins. Now all this 
was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall 
be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall 
call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, 
God with us." Matt. 1:18, 21-23. 

Old Testament: The seed of the woman shall- bruise 
the serpent's head. Gen. 3:15.^ 

New Testament: "He saith not, And to seeds, as of 
many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." 
Gal. 3:16. 

Old Testament: His lineage must be traced through 
Abraham (Gen. 22: 18), Isaac (Gen. 21:12), and Jacob 
(Gen. 28:14). 

New Testament: "Now to Abraham and his seed 
were the promises made." Gal. 3:16. "And if ye be 
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs accord- 
ing to the promise." Gal. 3 :2g. "The book of the gen- 
eration of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of 
Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac ; and Isaac begat Jacob ; 
and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren." Matt. 1:1, 2. 
"He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took 
on Him the seed of Abraham." Heb. 2:16. 

Old Testament : He must come of the tribe of Judah. 
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law- 
giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto 
Him shall the gathering of the people be." Gen. 49:10. 

New Testament: "For it is evident that our Lord 
sprang out of Judah." Heb. 7:14. 

Old Testament: He must be of the family of Jesse 



Christ the Restorer 159 

(Isa. 11 :i-io), and of the house of David (Ps. 132:11). 

New Testament: The lineage of Jesus Christ of 
Nazareth can be traced through the family of Jesse and 
the house of David. Matt. 1 :6. 

Old Testament: He must be born a child in Bethle- 
hem. Isa. 9 :6 ; Micah 5 :2. 

New Testament: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 
Judea in the days of Herod the king." Herod was great- 
ly troubled over the report of the birth of a new king, 
and demanded of the Jews where, according to proph- 
ecy, He should be born. The Jews referred him to the 
prophecy of Micah. Matt. 2:1-6. 

Old Testament: Kings and rulers shall take counsel 
against Christ, and seek to destroy Him at the time of 
His birth, but they shall not accomplish their purpose. 
Ps. 2:1-4; Jer. 31:15-17. 

New Testament: Herod slew all the children in 
Bethlehem that were two years old and under, in an at- 
tempt to slay the Child Jesus. Matt. 2:11-18. Archelaus 
also withstood Him. Verse 22. 

Old Testament. "I . . . called My Son out of 
Egypt." Hosea 11 :i. How could Jesus be called out 
of Egypt when He was born in Bethlehem of Judea? 

New Testament: "Arise, and take the young Child 
and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there 
until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young 
Child to destroy Him." "Out of Egypt have I called 
My Son." Matt. 2:13, 15. 

Old Testament: He must be the first child of His 
mother. "A virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son." 
Isa. 7:14. 

New Testament: She "brought forth her first-born 
Son: and he called His name Jesus." Matt. 1 :25. 

Old Testament: His name from childhood shall be 
called "Immanuel," — God with us (Isa. 7:14), "the 
mighty God," "the Prince of peace" (Isa. 9:6). 

New Testament: They called His name Jesus, "Em- 



160 i The Kingdom of God 

manuel" (Matt. 1:21-23), "great God" (Titus 2:12, 
13). "He is our peace." Eph. 2:14. When a child, 
He was recognized and worshiped as God by both men 
and angels. Simeon, Anna, and the wise men who saw 
His star in the east, came to worship Him. Luke 2 134- 
38; Matt. 2:1, 2. "And again, when He bringeth in 
the first-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all 
the angels of God worship Him." Heb. 1 :6. 

Old Testament: He should be of humble birth, and 
manifest no kingly dignity that would cause Him to be 
desired of men. Isa. 53:2. 

New Testament: He was born in a stable, and 
cradled in a manger, because there was no room in the 
inn. His mother, because of her poverty, brought two 
turtledoves for her cleansing, while those more prosper- 
ous were required to bring a lamb. Luke 2:7, 22, 24; 
Lev. 12:8. 

Old Testament: He must be born to be King of a 
universal and unending kingdom. Ps. 2:6-8; 89:27-37; 
Isa. 9:6, 7; Dan. 2:44. 

New Testament: Pilate asked Jesus, "Art Thou the 
King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is 
not of this world." Pilate asked, "Art Thou a king 
then?" Jesus answered, "To this end was I born, and 
for this cause came I into the world." John 18:33, 36, 
37. Jesus taught His disciples to pray: "Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." 
Matt. 6:10. About one hundred times in His teachings, 
Christ refers to the kingdom over which He will yet 
reign. In Luke 1 :32, 33 it is declaf ed : "He shall be 
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and 
the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His 
father David: and He shall reign over the house of 
Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end." 

Old Testament: The very year of His anointing as 
the Messiah was foretold to be a. d. 27. Dan. 9:25. 
"Messiah" means anointed. Acts 10:38. Prophets, 



Christ the Restorer 161 

priests, and kings were always anointed when about to 
enter upon their work. The anointing of prophets is 
mentioned in I Kings 19:16; of priests, in Lev. 8:5-12; 
of kings, in 1 Sam. 10:1. 

New Testament: After His anointing at His baptism 
Christ declared, "The time is fulfilled." Mark 1:15: 
What time? — The time predicted that He would be 
anointed as the Messiah, a. d. 27. Mark 1:9-11. (See 
date in margin.) 

Old Testament: Three and a half years later, He 
must die, and by His death, cause the sacrificial offer- 
ings of the Old Testament, which prefigured His death, 
to cease. Dan. 9:26. 

New Testament: He died upon the cross A. D. 31. 
"And they crucified Him." Mark 15:25. "And the 
veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the 
bottom." Verse 38. The sacrificial system ended at the 
cross. Col. 2:14. 

Old Testament: He must meet His death in the 
house of His friends, by crucifixion on a cross. "And 
one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine 
hands ? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was 
wounded in the house of My friends." Zech. 13:6. 
"They pierced My hands and My feet." Ps. 22:16. 
"They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." 
Zech. 12:10. Not one of His bones shall be broken. 
Ps. 34:20. 

New Testament : This testimony is confirmed in every 
point. John 19:16, 17, 32-37. He was betrayed by 
Judas, one of His disciples, and crucified upon the cross 
by the Jews. 

Old Testament: "Reproach hath broken My heart. 
. . . They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My 
thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." Ps. 69:20, 21. 

New Testament: This testimony is perfectly con- 
firmed. "They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with 
gall." Matt. 27:34. 



1 62 The Kingdom of God 

Old Testament: He died on account of our sins. 
"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 
"With His stripes we are healed." Isa. 53 :6, 5. Under 
our sins, in His last hour, it was said He would cry, 
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 
Ps. 22:1. 

New Testament: "Christ died for our sins accord- 
ing to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. 15:3. Upon the cross, 
"at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, 
... My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 
Mark 15:34. 

Old Testament: He was to be ill-treated and mis- 
judged at the time of His trial; but "as a sheep before 
her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." 
Isa. 53:7, 8. 

New Testament: "The chief priests accused Him of 
many things: but He answered nothing. And Pilate 
asked him again, saying, Answerest Thou nothing? be- 
hold how many things they witness against Thee. But 
Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marveled." 
Mark 15:3-5. 

Old Testament: "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep 
shall be scattered." Zech. 13:7. 

New Testament: "Then all the disciples forsook Him, 
and fled." Matt. 26:56. 

Old Testament: "They part My garments among 
them, and cast lots upon My vesture." Ps. 22:18. 

New Testament: They parted His garments among 
the four soldiers; but as His coat was woven without 
seam, they cast lots for it. John 19:23, 24. 

Old Testament: He was to be associated with the 
wicked and the rich in His death and burial. Isa. 53:12, 
9. He would be raised from the dead. Ps. 16:10. 

New Testament : He was crucified between two 
thieves, and buried in the tomb of a rich man named 
Joseph, of Arimathea. Luke 23:53; Matt. 27:57-60. 
He was raised from the dead the third day. Matt. 28 :6, 



Christ the Restorer 163 

This was confirmed by many witnesses, the sepulcher 
being carefully guarded. Matt. 27 162-66. He was seen 
alive forty days. Acts 1 13. After this, He ascended to 
heaven in the presence of many eyewitnesses. "And 
when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He 
was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their 
sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven 
as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white 
apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand 
ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11. 

We have here given more than a score of predictions 
from the first witness, the Old Testament, in reference 
to the true Messiah. This testimony was given from 
three hundred to fourteen hundred years before His 
birth. It embraces events connected with His birth, 
His trial before Pilate, and His death and burial, over 
none of which either He or His disciples could have any 
control. 

The New Testament, the second witness, confirms 
every point. Its witness is not borne until more than 
three hundred years after the close of the testimony of 
the Old Testament. 

THE TESTIMONY OF HIS WORKS 

Let us now hear the testimony of the works that He 
did. What testimony do they bear? The Old Testa- 
ment says He must be upon earth as the mighty God, 
yet as a man among men. He must come and be anointed 
to preach the gospel and "comfort all that mourn." Isa. 
61 : 1-3. After His anointing at the time of His bap- 
tism, He used this text as the basis of His address, and 
began His ministry with it, declaring, "This day is this 
scripture fulfilled in your ears." "And all bare Him 
witness, and wondered at the gracious words which pro- 
ceeded out of His mouth." Luke 4:16-22. 



164 The Kingdom of God 

He gave sight to a man born blind. "Since the world 
began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes 
of one that was born blind." John 9:32. He raised 
Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days. John 
11 :u, 14, 17, 44. He lived a perfectly sinless life from 
birth to death. Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22. 

When John the Baptist sent to inquire if He were 
the one that was to come, or if they should look for an- 
other, "Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, 
and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how 
that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel 
is preached." Luke 7:21, 22. 

This was the testimony of His works. No impostor 
could meet all these specifications. No one but the Son 
of God, who came down from heaven to seek and save 
the lost, could meet them. They were given as an un- 
impeachable test of the true Messiah. "In the mouth of' 
two or three witnesses 'shall every word' be established." 
Matt. 18:16. 

With all this evidence before us, we are prepared to 
ask those living in this time, "What think ye of Christ?" 

THE TESTIMONY OF HIS ENEMIES 

Ask the woman of Samaria at the well, "What think 
ye of Christ?" Hear her reply — despite the fact that 
there was such hatred between Jews and Samaritans that 
they had no dealings: "Come, see a man, which told 
me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 
John 4:29. 

The Pharisees hated Him for His doctrine. They 
sought to entangle Him in His words. Ask those 
whom they sent to take Him. "What think ye of 
Christ" as a teacher? They answer, "Never man spake 
like this man." John 7:46. 

Ask the Pharisees to bring forward their objections 
to Him. "To what doctrine which He promulgated do 



Christ the Restorer 165 

you object?" They answer, "How is it then that 
He saith, I came down from heaven?" "He . . . 
said also that God was His Father." John 5:18. 
This was their difficulty; He was in their midst as 
a man, yet He claimed to have come down from 
heaven. What stronger evidence could be obtained that 
He held steadfastly to the doctrine that He was the 
Son of God? Is there not some more serious charge 
than this against Him? "Thy disciples do that which 
is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day." Hear His 
consistent reply: "It is lawful to do well on the Sab- 
bath day." The Pharisees again charge, "This man re- 
ceiveth sinners." What higher compliment could be paid 
to Him? That was the very mission upon which He 
came to earth. What more touching testimony could be 
borne to sinful men who need His saving power? 

Ask Caiaphas in his priestly robes, "What evidence 
did you find against Him, that caused you to accuse Him 
before Pilate?" "He hath spoken blasphemy." He said, 
"Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the 
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 
Matt. 26:64. That is, He insisted that His mission 
would be a success, and that at last He would sit as 
King of the kingdom restored, and return for His people. 

Hear the cry of the devils, as they are cast out by the 
word of His power: "Art Thou come hither to tor- 
ment us before the time?" "Jesus, Thou Son of God." 
"We know Thee who Thou art; the Holy One of God." 
Matt. 8:29; Luke 4:34, 41. 

Ask Pilate, the Roman governor before whom He was 
tried, "What think ye of Christ?" But wait — a mes- 
sage comes to the judgment hall, from Pilate's wife. 
There is a pause in the proceedings. The letter is read 
in silence. It is for Pilate only. It reads, "Have thou 
nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered 
many things this day in a dream because of Him." Matt. 
27:19. 



1 66 The Kingdom of God 

The trial proceeds again. Final judgment is about to 
be pronounced. But the Jews raise the cry, "Let Him 
be crucified." Pilate answered: "Why, what evil hath 
He done?" "I find no fault in this man." Matt. 27:22, 
23; Luke 23:4. Thus testify a Roman judge and his 
wife. 

When He is dying for sinful men, upon the cross, 
ask the Pharisees again, What do you think of Him now? 
"He saved others; Himself He cannot save." A most 
wonderful testimony of His divine mission! He could 
not save Himself and die in the sinner's stead. 

Call up Judas, who was with Him in His ministry, 
witnessed His miracles, and at the last with a kiss be- 
trayed Him to be crucified. See the remorseful look 
upon his face, as he returns the thirty pieces of silver, 
the price at which he had valued his Master, in that 
awful hour of betrayal. Hear his words of bitterness, 
as he casts the money at the feet of the priests, "I have 
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." 
Matt. 27 '.4.. Ask the centurion who required Christ 
to carry His cross up the hill of Calvary, drove the nails 
through His hands and feet, and pierced His side with 
the cruel spear, "What think ye of Christ?" See him 
smite his breast as he answers, "Truly this was the Son 
of God." Matt. 27:54. Ask the thief upon the cross. 
After penitently acknowledging his own guilt, he says: 
"This man hath done nothing amiss. . . . Lord, remem- 
ber me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Luke 
23:41, 42. 

THE TESTIMONY OF HIS FRIENDS 

Shall we now listen to the testimony of His friends? 
Let John the Baptist, wearing his raiment of camel's 
hair and his leathern girdle, emblems of his sterling in- 
tegrity, introduce Him, since he was sent to be His fore- 
runner. Hear him declare boldly to the multitude: 
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 



Christ the Restorer 167 

the world." "I . . . bear record that this is the Son of 
God." John 1 129, 34. 

Peter says, "We have found the Messias, which is, 
being interpreted, the Christ." John 1:41. Though 
he thrice denied Christ during His trial, yet he testifies 
later: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know as- 
suredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom 
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:36. 
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is 
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby 
we must be saved." Acts 4:12. 

Hear Paul, who held the clothes of those who stoned 
Stephen, and secured letters to arrest and imprison all 
Christ's followers: "I delivered unto you first of all 
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our 
sins according to the Scriptures ; and that He was buried, 
and that He rose again the third day according to the 
Scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the 
twelve: after that, He was seen of above five hundred 
brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto 
this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, He 
was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last 
of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due 
time." 1 Cor. 15:3-8. The evidence was so overwhelm- 
ing that he declared: "I am not ashamed of the gospel 
of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to 
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to 
the Greek." Rom. 1 :i6. "For this thing was not done 
in a corner." Acts 26:26. 

Christ was well known throughout the country as 
Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Son of God. 
His trial was a matter of record in the Roman court 
under Pilate's jurisdiction. He was executed officially 
upon the cross, in the presence of a multitude; and after 
His resurrection, hundreds of people saw Him; and in 
the presence of witnesses, He bodily ascended to heaven, 
and was borne away in a cloud. Acts 1:9-11. 



1 68 T\ie Kingdom of God 

Many of the same people were present when, on the 
day of Pentecost, nearly fifty days after His resurrection, 
Peter reviewed these evidences of His Messiahship under 
the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and three 
thousand were convicted and converted in a day. Later, 
a multitude more were added; and still later, the num- 
ber of believers is reported to have reached five thousand 
men, besides women and children. Acts 2:41 ; 4:4; 5 114. 

Graetz, a Jewish historian, evidently looking upon 
Jesus as a reformer who was unjustly condemned, said: 
"How great was the woe caused by that one execution. 
. . . He is the only mortal of whom one can say without 
exaggeration that His death was more effective than His 
life." — "History of the Jews/' volume 4, page 165. 

MODERN TESTIMONY 

Let us call up Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest 
generals of modern times, as a recent witness. Let us 
ask him, "What think ye of Christ?" He reverently 
replies: "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus 
Christ is not a man. . . . There is between Christianity 
and whatever other religion, the distance of infinity. . . . 
Everything in Him astonishes me. His spirit overawes 
me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and 
whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of 
comparison. He is truly a being by Himself. ... At 
His voice, everything returns to order. Science and 
philosophy become secondary. The soul has reconquered 
its sovereignty. All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as 
an edifice ruined, before one single word — faith. 

"What a Master and what a word, which can effect 
such a revolution! . . . Can you conceive of a dead man 
making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely 
devoted to his memory? . . . 

"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded 
empires. But upon w T hat did we rest the creations of 



Christ the Restorer 169 

our genius? — Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded 
His empire upon love; and at this hour, millions of men 
would die for him. . . . From the first day to the last, 
He is the same, always the same: majestic and simple, 
infinitely firm and infinitely gentle. . . . What a proof 
of the divinity of Christ! 

"Christ speaks, and at once generations become His 
by stricter, closer ties than those of blood; by the most 
sacred, the most indissoluble of all unions. He lights 
up the flame of a love which consumes self-love, which 
prevails over every other love. . . . The death of Christ ! 
It is the death of God." — Abbott's "Life of Napoleon" 
"Bible and Men of Learning" pages 334-346. 

WITNESSES FROM HEAVEN 

What is the testimony of the Word from heaven? — 
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal 
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son 
hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath 
not life." 1 John 5:11, 12. 

What is the witness of the Spirit from heaven? — 
"Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued 
with power from on high." Luke 24:49. "Ye shall 
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." "And when 
the day of Pentecost was fully come, . . . they were 
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 
1:8; 2:1, 4. 

Pentecost was the witness from heaven that Christ 
had ascended to the throne ot the Father, as He had 
assured them He would. There were present upon that 
occasion witnesses of this evidence from "every nation 
under heaven." Acts 2:5. 

One more testimony remains. Pass reverently before 
the throne of the infinite God, and hear His testimony. 



170 The Kingdom of God 

At the time of Christ's baptism, when He was anointed 
as the Messiah, the Father said, "This is My beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3:17. 

Ask the angels who knew Him before He came to 
earth, and have ever since associated with Him in His 
work of saving the lost, "What think ye of Christ?" 
Hear their song as it breaks upon the stillness of the 
night, in such melodious strains as earth had not heard 
since man was driven from his Paradise home: "Be- 
hold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall 
be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the 
city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 
Luke 2:10, 11. 

Ask the hosts of those who have been redeemed through 
His infinite sacrifice, "What think ye of Christ?" All 
heaven is hushed while they answer, "Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and bless- 
ing." Rev. 5:12. 

AFTER THE RESURRECTION 

After His resurrection from the dead, Christ spoke 
freely of the evidence of His divine Sonship with the 
Father. A wonderful privilege was granted those two 
travelers who walked and were sad, when, on the road 
to Emmaus, they met that passing Stranger, who kindly 
inquired the cause of their sadness. They replied: "Art 
Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known 
the things which are come to pass there in these days? 
And He said unto them, What things? And they said 
unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a 
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all 
the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers 
delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have cruci- 
fied Him. . . . Then said He unto them, Ought not 
Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into 



Christ the Restorer 1 71 

His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, 
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things 
concerning Himself. . . . And He said unto them, These 
are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet 
with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were 
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and 
in the Psalms, concerning Me." See Luke 27:18-44. 

Reader, "What think ye of Christ?" Will you ac- 
cept Him as the Son of God, that you may at last be 
accepted of Him, and join in that anthem of endless 
praise "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from 
our sins in His own blood?" 



PART VI 

THE TWO COVENANT KINGDOMS, THEIR SANC- 
TUARIES, CONFLICTS AND TRIUMPHS 



CHAPTER XXI 

The Old Covenant Kingdom the Kingdom 
of Glory 

/^ OD has ever had but one plan of redemption. That 
^^plan has embraced His entire family since the fall. 
It has been taught a.nd illustrated in various ways at 
various times, but the plan has always remained the same, 
salvation by faith. 

God established His original kingdom of glory, with 
its laws, government, and sinless subjects, for sinless con- 
ditions. Its universal law required obedience or death. 
Rom. 7:10; Gen. 2:16, 17. Free moral agency neces- 
sarily left the question of the entrance of sin dependent 
upon the loyalty or disloyalty of its subjects. God's 
grace was later revealed for the restoration of man from 
his fallen state. Eph. 1:3-11; Col. 1:20. 

REASONS FOR REESTABLISHING THE EDENIC KINGDOM 

Israel had been about two hundred years in Egyptian 
bondage. God had redeemed them and liberated them, 
that they might serve Him. Ex. 8:1. In seeking to es- 
tablish Israel as a "holy nation," He restored to them a 
knowledge of the kingdoms of glory and grace. 

172 



The Old Covenant Kingdom 173 

ISRAEL CONSULTED 

That it was not God's design to enforce His worship 
or service, or to compel any to enter His kingdom, is 
evident in that at every step in the proceedings of its 
establishment, the whole people were consulted. God did* 
not in the slightest degree use any compulsion to secure 
their concurrence in making the covenant. Their act was 
purely voluntary. "And Moses . . . called for the eld- 
ers of the people, and laid before their faces all these 
words which the Lord commanded him. And all the 
people answered together, and said, All that the Lord 
hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words 
of the people unto the Lord." Ex. 19:7, 8. 

When the preliminary agreement had been made be- 
tween God and the people, He might have been justified 
in proceeding at once to ratify the covenant according 
to the agreement; but He did not ratify it until all the 
people finally understood and concurred in every detail 
of His plan, so far as it pertained to that stage of the 
development of the kingdom. He gave them ample op- 
portunity to exercise the right of choice before ratifying 
the covenant. He afterward styled Himself "the Lord 
the King of Israel." Isa. 44:6. 

GOD PROCLAIMED THE LAW OF HIS KINGDOM 

Since God was revealing the kingdom of glory to Is- 
rael, the first thing we should logically expect would be 
a manifestation of His majesty in the proclamation of 
His law. After consulting with the people, and secur- 
ing their voluntary promise of obedience, He gave them 
notice that three days later, He would meet with them 
again. On the third day, He proclaimed the law of 
His kingdom amid scenes of grandeur such as had not 
been witnessed on earth since the Edenic kingdom was 
established by the mighty work of creation. Accom- 
panied by ten thousand angels, He descended upon Mount 



174 The Kingdom of God 

Sinai in awful majesty. Lightnings flashed from the 
clouds that veiled Him from view, like beams of glory 
from the divine throne. Mighty thunderings were heard, 
and the sin-cursed earth quaked greatly. "And it came 
to pass on the third day in the morning, that there 
were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon 
the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; 
so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. 
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to 
meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of 
the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a 
smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and 
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, 
and the whole mount quaked greatly." Ex. 19: 16-18. 
For the time, Mount Sinai was transformed into the 
throne of God. The sublime spectacle of God's descent 
suggests the majestic scenes of the mount of transfigura- 
tion, and the second coming of Christ in glorious tri- 
umph, when the kingdom lost by the first Adam shall 
be restored by the second Adam. 

The law of the kingdom of God proclaimed to Israel 
as His standard of holiness, was the Ten Command- 
ments. Ex. 20:1-17. It was the complete law of moral 
obligations in the kingdom of God. "And He added no 
more." Deut. 5:22. It was holy (Rom. 7:12), heav- 
enly (Ex. 20:22), and perfect (Ps. 19:7). 

THE OLD COVENANT RATIFIED 

It was explained, before the old covenant was ratified, 
that there was no pardon provided for transgressors. 
Ex. 23:20, 21. But Israel, having come so recently 
from their long sojourn in the midst of heathenism, had 
little conception of the character of God's kingdom. 
God had given them a slight view of its awful grandeur, 
when they said, "Let not God speak with us, lest we 
die." Under such conditions of ignorance, God un- 



The Old Covenant Kingdom 175 

dertook to develop them into a "holy nation," through 
whom He would make known His name in all the earth. 
Before He could get them to see their need of a Saviour, 
He must convince them that obedience since the fall 
is impossible through the provisions of the kingdom 
of glory alone. After He had three times consulted 
them, giving them the utmost freedom of choice as to 
voluntarily entering the old covenant compact, and every 
one, from least to greatest, had concurred in the agree- 
ment, He instructed Moses to ratify the covenant with 
blood, which was its seal of death to transgressors. 
"And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the 
people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which 
the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." 
Ex. 24:8. The people having voluntarily entered that 
covenant relationship, the law of the Edenic kingdom 
was reestablished as the law of the kingdom with Israel. 
After the old covenant was ratified, the Lord called 
Moses up into the mount, and gave him a copy of the 
law spoken from Sinai, written in His own hand, in 
tables of stone. Verse 12. 

ISRAELIS APOSTASY 

Israel now stood under the old covenant, related to 
the kingdom of glory as was Adam in Eden, except that 
Adam was perfect, and living under perfect conditions, 
while Israel was imperfect, and living under imperfect 
conditions. As Adam fell in Eden, so, before Moses 
had been in the mount with God forty days, Israel as a 
body fell to worshiping the golden calf. Ex. 32:1-6. 
In this act, they broke the covenant on their part; and 
like Adam, according to the demands of the law of the 
kingdom of glory, which had been reestablished with 
them, and under which they had agreed to live perfectly 
obedient lives, they forfeited their lives. According to 
the demands of the old covenant, the day of their trans- 



176 The Kingdom of God 

gression was the day of their execution. God told Moses 
that according to their covenant, they must perish. But 

ISRAEL WAS SAVED THROUGH THE NEW OR ABRAHAMIC 
COVENANT 

"They could not hope for the favor of God through 
a covenant which they had broken ; and now, seeing their 
sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought 
to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abra- 
hamic covenant, and shadowed forth in the sacrificial 
offerings. Now by faith and love they were brought to 
God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now 
they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the 
new covenant." 

THE KINGDOM OF GRACE REVEALED TO ISRAEL 

As the Lord had made provision, through the king- 
dom of grace, to meet the needs of Adam for pardon, 
which the Lord offered and Adam accepted on the day 
of his transgression, so Moses pleaded that through this 
same new covenant the kingdom of grace, previously re- 
vealed to Abraham, might that day be offered to Israel, 
as to Adam in Eden. Verses 11:35. The Lord granted 
this request; and the kingdom of grace, orginally re- 
vealed on the day of Adam's fall, was again revealed 
to Israel on the day of their transgression at Sinai, as 
their only hope of life. Through its provisions, pardon 
was that day offered to all Israel. Verse 26. 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EXHIBITION 

God had now completed the covenant agreement with 
Israel to place before the world "a kingdom of priests, 
and an holy nation." He could not do this until Israel 
could see and know God's grace as well as His glory. 



The Old Covenant Kingdom 177 

In making the old covenant compact, God designed 
to demonstrate that sinful men could not obey the law 
except through the provisions of the kingdom of grace, 
which He also made known to Israel. Through its aid, 
a "holy nation" could be placed before the world. Af- 
ter God had spoken the law of holiness, Moses said, 
"God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be 
before 5 r our faces, that ye sin not." Ex. 20:20. The 
law of the kingdom of glory first established with Is- 
rael, dealt with sin. By that nation's becoming, through' 
grace, a "holy nation," God was endeavoring to show 
to the world that sinful men could be changed into sin- 
less subjects of the kingdom of glory. Other nations 
dealt with crimes and civil affairs. Their kings were men 
liable to err. Israel's King, Lawgiver, and Judge was 
the infallible God. "For the Lord is our Judge, the 
Lord is our Lawgiver, and the Lord is our King; He 
will save us." Isa. 33 :22. 

Afterward Israel, under the leadership of Caleb and 
Joshua, men of faith, entered the promised inheritance, 
and stood before the world as an object lesson of the 
triumphs of faith. Num. 14:21-34. 

God did not abandon His kingdom, peopled with free 
subjects, because Satan had invaded the dominion in 
Eden. Neither did He abandon His attempt to make of 
Israel a "holy nation," with freedom of choice, because 
Satan had led them into apostasy. For forty years, Is- 
rael knew God's "breach of promise" to make them a 
holy nation, until the unbelieving murmurers were sifted 
out in the wilderness; then the promise was (Num. 14: 
34) partially accomplished in the day of Joshua, when a 
"holy nation" serving God represented His kingdom be- 
fore the world for at least one generation. "And Is- 
rael served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the 
days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and which had 
known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for 
Israel." Joshua 24:31. They were then standing in 



178 The Kingdom of God 

the promised inheritance, as was Adam after the intro- 
duction of the law of pardon through Christ, when the 
new covenant kingdom of grace was first revealed to 
them. The Israelites who went into the promised in- 
heritance were children of faith. They went in under 
the leadership of Caleb and Joshua, who were men of 
triumphant faith. Numbers 14: The Sabbath, which 
was given to man in the beginning as a sign that the 
Creator of heaven and earth was the true God, was 
made known to Israel with the additional significance 
that Christ, the Creator, was now their Saviour and 
Sanctifier. Ezek. 20:12. 

SATAN AT WORK 

The wars against Israel were not ordinary national 
wars. They were Satan's attacks against the kingdom 
of God. God's methods of warfare were such as de- 
manded the exercise of faith. Invisible angels, hornets, 
rams' horns, lamps and pitchers, were, upon various oc- 
casions, His warriors and implements of destruction. 
The sun stood still a whole day as an evidence that the 
Lord was the King who was directing the battles. 

ISRAEL DEMANDED A KING 

In the days of Samuel, the nation of Israel had so 
apostatized that they demanded a king like the nations 
had, instead of God. 1 Sam. 8:5. Saul was enthroned 
as king at their request. Samuel protested; but God 
informed him that the people, in choosing Saul, had re- 
jected Him from being king of Israel. Verse 7. At the 
installation of Saul, Samuel said : "Ye said unto me, 
Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your 
God was your King. Now therefore behold the king 
whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, 
behold, the Lord hath set a king over you." 1 Sam. 



The Old Covenant Kingdom 179 

12:12, 13. Later, through David, God demonstrated 
that with a man of His own choosing at the head of the 
kingdom, as in the beginning, it was possible to admin- 
ister the affairs of the nation of Israel for a time as a 
"holy nation." 

YOKE OF BONDAGE 

Since, through the kingdom of grace, pardon was 
granted, how was the old covenant an unbearable yoke 
of bondage? — Blindness in part had happened to Israel. 
The blind cannot see. So after Israel's later apostasy, 
they could not see in the innocent lamb slain for sin- 
ners "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
world." Israel in blindness trusted in the ritual law 
to restore righteousness, and the moral law to preserve 
righteousness. That was a misconception of the pur- 
pose of both laws. "The law was our schoolmaster to 
bring us unto Christ." Gal. 3 124. He alone could offer 
pardon, as He only had taken the place of the sinner 
under the death penalty. The sinner was taught, from 
Sinai as from Adam's fall, that there was no pardon 
available by works of law through either the old or the 
new covenant kingdom. Paul instructed Israel that if 
works of law could save from sin, then Christ had died 
in vain. Gal. 2:21. 

The law was added because of transgression. It was 
not added because works of law could save. It was 
given to reveal sin, that the offense might abound, and 
to teach that there was salvation only in the voluntary 
substitution of Christ. It was therefore "added because 
of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom 
the promise was made." That Seed was Christ. Gal. 
3:19, 29. Every sacrificial lamb offered declared that 
the Seed would be seen on Calvary, when the death pen- 
alty for transgression would be voluntarily met in Christ. 
It was after blindness had perverted this teaching of the 



180 The Kingdom of God 

new covenant kingdom of grace, as it was associated in 
symbolic offerings through the worldly sanctuary, that 
it became fleshly, a yoke of bondage, and a persecuting 
religion. Gal. 4:19-25. When Israel had so far apos- 
tatized as to prostitute God's plans to save men, into an 
inquisition of religious persecution, God said: "Cast out 
the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bond- 
woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman." 
"But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted 
him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." 
Verses 30, 29. 

A spiritual Christianity never legislates upon religious 
questions. A fleshly religion, a religion of works, perse- 
cutes. Cain persecuted Abel. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. 
When the true gospel teaching became perverted, by 
Israel's seeking righteousness by the works of the law 
instead of by the faith it taught, it left them in bondage. 
Human priests and blood of animals were powerless to 
remove sin. They could teach of a Saviour, but they 
could not save. The system as established was good, in 
that it taught the true standard of holiness in its law, 
and in shadow taught redemption through Christ. Peo- 
ple were saved then, as now, through the gospel. "And 
did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of 
that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock 
was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4. "For unto us was the gos- 
pel preached, as well as unto them : but the word preached 
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them 
that heard it." Heb. 4:2.. "But He, being full of com- 
passion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: 
yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did 
not stir up all His wrath." Ps. 78:38. The gospel was 
then the same as now, and their forgiveness was as real 
as ours. The manna from heaven and the smitten rock 
symbolized Christ as the bread and water of life. 

During the reign of David, the Lord declared that 
the throne of David, which was the throne of the Lord, 



The Old Covenant Kingdom 181 

should be the throne of Christ, the promised Seed (Gal. 
3:29), throughout eternal ages. Ps. 89:35-37. The 
law of the kingdom of David, which was the law of the 
Ten Commandments spoken from Sinai, unaltered, shall 
therefore be the law of the eternal kingdom of Christ. 
Verses 27-34. 

Thereafter, "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord 
as king instead of David his father." 1 Chron. 29:23. 
God still chose the kings, and passed the throne from 
one to another, until it became so corrupt as basely to 
misrepresent its king, and failed to present to the world 
a nation of holy people. In the days of Zedekiah, b. c. 
590, the Lord permitted the Babylonians to deprive the 
kingdom of Israel of its king. Ezek. 12:8-13; Jer. 52:8- 
14. God then declared that the throne of the Babylo- 
nians should be three times overturned, after which 
Christ, whose the kingdom is by right, should take it as 
His own, and reign eternally. "And thou, profane 
w T icked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when in- 
iquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God: Re- 
move the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall 
not be the same: exalt him that is^low, and abase him 
that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: 
and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; 
and I will give it Him." Ezek. 21 :25-27. 

The three overturnings have taken place. The first 
was from Babylon to Medo-Persia; the second, Medo- 
Persia to Grecia; the third, Grecia to Rome. When 
the Roman empire shall pass, with its divisions, the ever- 
lasting kingdom of Christ will come. Until that time, 
it will not again be established in this world. For any 
nation to undertake to establish the kingdom of Christ 
in this world by force will be for that nation to break 
with Christ, and become a persecuting power, as did 
Israel, in their blindness and apostasy, at His first ad- 
vent. Human hands will not establish the kingdom of 
Christ. It is theirs to teach the gospel and appeal to 



1 82 The Kingdom of God 

sinners. God will establish His kingdom without their 
aid when the set time has come. His own loving hand 
shall place the crown upon that sacred brow. "In the 
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the king- 
dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in 
pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
forever." Dan. 2:44. 



CHAPTER XXII 

The New Covenant Kingdom of Grace Restores 
Men to the Kingdom of Glory 

'T S HE kingdom of grace was established to meet sinful 
A conditions. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the 
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16. As the 
throne of Great Britain bespeaks the kingdom of Great 
Britain, so "the throne of grace" is synonymous with 
"the kingdom of grace." This text clears the field of all 
question that the kingdom of grace was designed to pro- 
vide mercy for needy, sinful men. When it has met that 
need, by providing righteousness for every one suing for 
pardon, its work will be finished, and its mission will 
end. 1 Cor. 15:24-28. 

One of the most difficult lessons for humanity to learn 
is the way of entrance into the kingdom of God. Many 
share the experience of Nicodemus, who said, "How can 
a man be born when he is old?" "Jesus answered and 
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a 
man be born again ["from above" margin], he cannot 
see the kingdom of God." "Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3 13, 5. 

god's image restored 

In the beginning, the Lord created man in His own 
image, after His likeness, and made him a subject of His 
kingdom. Gen. 1 126, 27. 

183 



184 The Kingdom of God 

In 2 Cor. 4:4, we learn that this image of God is not 
merely the outward form, but it embraces the spiritual 
character as well. Christ in His spiritual life was the 
image of God, in which man was originally created. So 
it is written: "The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." "Now 
the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord 
is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding 
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:17, 18. Restored to the image of 
God, man becomes a spiritual worshiper of God, as he 
was in the beginning. 

Christ, in whose image man was created, and to whose 
image he is to be restored by the Spirit of God, was filled 
with God's Spirit when He was here upon earth. John 
3 :34 says, "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the 
words of God : for God giveth not the Spirit by measure 
unto Him." Paul adds: "In Him dwelleth all the full- 
ness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in 
Him." Col. 2:9, 10. When man has reached that 
completeness in Him, he will be filled with the same 
Spirit. "And of His fullness have all we received, and 
grace for grace." John 1:16. It will be given to man 
without measure, as it was to Him, and he will become a 
true spiritual worshiper of God. John 4:23, 24. When 
filled with the Spirit, as was Christ, man will delight to 
worship God in spirit and in truth. He will stand in the 
same relation to God as he did before- the fall. "For 
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be 
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be 
the first-born among many brethren." Rom. 8:29. As 
man experienced a transformation in his fall from the' 
kingdom of God into the kingdom of darkness, so he ex- 
periences a transformation by the new birth from the king- 
dom of darkness back into the kingdom of God. 
"Strengthened by all might, according to His glorious 



The New Covenant Kingdom 185 

power, . . . who hath delivered us from the power 
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of 
His dear Son." Col. 1:11, 13. In the fall, man lost 
the law of God out of his heart; but in his restoration, 
the law must be perfectly reestablished in his heart as it 
was in the beginning, and as it was in the heart of Christ. 

THE NEW COVENANT REESTABLISHES THE LAW IN THE 
HEART 

When Christ came to represent the Christian life un- 
der the new covenant, it is said of Him: "Lo, I come: in 
the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to 
do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My 
heart. I have preached righteousness in the great con- 
gregation: lo, I have not refrained My lips, O Lord, 
Thou knowest." Ps. 40:7-9. He came preaching new 
covenant righteousness as based upon the law established 
in the heart. 

That this is the mission of the new covenant is most 
emphatically stated in Jer. 31:31-34: "Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will make [ratify] a new 
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of 
Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to 
bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which My covenant 
they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith 
the Lord : but this shall be the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel ; After those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in 
their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My 
people. And they shall teach no more every man his 
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord : for they shall all know Me, from the least of them 
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will for- 
give their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no 
more." 



1 86 The Kingdom of God 

Human language would be incapable of expressing witK 
greater clearness the object of the new covenant. Sin is 
forgiven, and remembered no more, on the basis that 
God has, through the new covenant, written the law in 
the heart. This is individual experience. The prophet 
Ezekiel expresses it as follows: 

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upoft you, and ye 
shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all your 
idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take 
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within 
you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall 
keep My judgments, and do them." Ezek. 36:25-27. 

David and Jeremiah both declare that this new cove- 
nant made with Israel was not a temporary covenant for 
natural Israel, but it was the everlasting covenant be- 
tween God and all His people. 2 Sam. 23 :5 ; Jer. 32 138- 
4°; 33:19-26. Christ, by that new covenant, became to 
Israel "the Lord our Righteousness." Jer. 23:6. And 
Isaiah, speaking to new covenant Israel, says, "Hearken 
unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose 
heart is My law." Isa. 51 7. 

Our lesson from their experience is that unless we have 
the new birth, — the birth from above, the birth that 
comes through faith, and gives us a new spirit, a change 
of heart, and establishes in our hearts the law as pro- 
claimed at Sinai, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

Israel's failure and god's remedy 

In Hebrews 8 is explained where Israel failed in mak- 
ing the Sinaitic covenant. Commencing with verse 7, 
we read, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, 
then should no place have been sought for the second." 
Wherein was it faulty? "Now hath He obtained a more 
excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator 



The New Covenant Kingdom 187 

of a better covenant, which was established upon better 
promises." Verse 6. The fault was in the promises of 
the people. In what respect were the promises that were 
made by the people faulty? — They, without a new birth, 
without faith in Christ to enable them to be obedient to a 
spiritual law, promised that they would render perfect 
obedience to the spiritual law of God's kingdom, and 
thus, as natural moralists, enter the kingdom. They 
needed a renewed heart. "O that there were such an 
heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My 
commandments always, that it might be well with them, 
and with their children forever!" Deut. 5:29. 

In making the new covenant, the Lord did away with 
the faulty part of the promises. God's part was all right, 
and was fulfilled through the new covenant. "For what 
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the 
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful 
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the 
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3, 4. 
In making the new covenant, He made the promises of 
obedience better. In place of their obedience depending 
upon their own works, as under the old covenant, He 
promised that through His divine power, He would im- 
plant the law within their hearts, take away their sins, 
and remember them against them no more, and make their 
obedience possible and delightful. The new covenant 
is better in its promises because through it their obedi- 
ence depends upon God's promises, grace, and power, and 
not upon their own promises and works. They should* 
have learned, by their old covenant experience, that they 
could not enter the kingdom by their own personal efforts 
and will power. It is here plainly stated that the Lord 
made the new covenant with Israel at the time He found 
fault with them for breaking the old covenant. Heb. 
8:8, 9- 

The Lord was not angry, but grieved (Heb. 3:17) 



1 88 The Kingdom of God 

with Israel for failing in that promise; for He knew 
beforehand that they would fail, because they could not 
obey His law without the new birth. He made the old 
covenant with them* for the purpose of enabling them to 
see that men could not enter the kingdom of glory with- 
out the new birth. Christ still confirmed the new cove- 
nant during one prophetic week, — seven years, — in the 
midst of which He ratified it, and caused all typical sac- 
rifices to cease. Dan. 9:27. In the making of the new 
covenant with Israel, the whole system of dealing with 
sin in the work of atonement was fully revealed in the 
sanctuary service. 

ACCEPTANCE OF THE NEW COVENANT VOLUNTARY 

As men were left free to choose in becoming subjects 
of the kingdom with Israel, so entrance into the full- 
ness of the new covenant kingdom is voluntary. It is 
a call to a faith which maintains that God does for one 
all that He has promised. Faith is an inward experi- 
ence, not an outward form. It is manifested in voluntary 
obedience, not in compulsory, formal observance. Being 
an inward experience, it cannot be enforced. 

A MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT 

The new covenant was a ministration of the Spirit. 
"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." 2 Cor. 
3 :6. "For the bread of God is He which cometh down 
from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." John 6:33. 
Christ came not to condemn, but to save. John 3:16, 17. 
The old covenant required obedience from the heart, or 
death. The new covenant restored righteousness as a 
gift from God through faith; but the same condition is 
required. Christ as Meditator, having accepted the 
death penalty for all, ministered the Spirit, and estab- 
lished righteousness. "What shall we say then? That 



The New Covenant Kingdom 189 

the gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have 
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is 
of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of 
righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteous- 
ness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, 
but as it were by the works of the law. For they 
stumbled at that stumblingstone ; as it is written, Behold, 
I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and 
whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." Rom. 
9 : 3° _ 33- The death penalty is to be executed upon im- 
penitents after the Judgment. 1 Cor. 6:1-3; John 8:15; 
Rom. 2:1-16; Acts 10:42; 17:31. For this reason, it is 
written, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until 
the Lord come." 1 Cor. 4:5. 

THE TWO COVENANTS ILLUSTRATED 

In Gal. 4:22-26, Paul illustrates the old and the new 
covenant experiences by the two sons of Abraham: "Abra- 
ham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a 
free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was 
born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by 
promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are 
the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which 
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is 
Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem 
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But 
Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of 
us all." From Gen. 17:15-21; 18:1-14; 21:1-8, it is 
clear that the birth of Isaac was supernatural. The birth 
of Ishmael was natural. He was the son of a bond- 
woman. Isaac was a child of promise, a child of faith; 
and being a legitimate child, of supernatural birth, he 
was free-born. He represents those who, being born from 
above by the Spirit of God, are heirs of the kingdom. 
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : 
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become 
new." 2 Cor. 5:17. See Rom. 8:16, 17. 



igo The Kingdom of God 



LAW AND GRACE ASSOCIATES. 

Law and grace are twin stars of Bethlehem, teaching 
a knowledge of sin, and leading to Christ. They were 
twin born, at the time of God's establishment of His 
moral government. Law and grace are coordinate part- 
ners in the plan of redemption. Like justice and mercy, 
they are the moral centrifugal and centripetal forces that 
are necessary to a man's stable equilibrium, his spiritual 
poise, when he breaks with the kingdom of darkness in re- 
sponse to God's call to restoration into the kingdom of 
light. God cannot administer government without law, 
and He cannot restore rebels without grace. Neither can 
grace restore sinners except they be awakened by law to a 
knowledge of sin, and their need of a Saviour. Hence 
law and grace are indissoluble partners in the conversion 
of sinners. Ps. 19:7; Gal. 3:22-26. 

GOD'S LAW REVEALED IN CHRIST 

"Is the law then against the promises of God? God 
forbid." Gal. 3:21. "Do we then make void the law 
through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." 
Rom. 3:31. In no other way can the law be established 
than through faith. Christ, as the representative of the 
kingdom of God, was Himself the law revealed in a life. 
Rom. 3:21. To follow Christ is to swear everlasting al- 
legiance to the law of God's kingdom, by which He lived, 
and to walk in obedience, as He walked. 1 John 2:6. 
This is true faith. James 2:8-24. It is the only true 
basis of a supernatural birth. 

Although the new covenant kingdom was established 
with Israel, it was not a national covenant. It was en- 
tered by individual faith; and all who entered it, from 
least to greatest, knew the Redeemer as a sin-pardoning 
Saviour. Heb. 8:10-12; Acts 15:14. Although both 



The New Covenant Kingdom 191 

the old and the new covenant were made with Israel 
(Rom. 9:4), only the children of promise were counted 
as the seed. Verse 8. The gentiles were grafted in by 
faith. Rom. 11 :i 1-29. Hence all Christians are counted' 
as Israelites, — prevailers with God (Gen. 32:28), — and 
each will enter the heavenly city under the name of one 
of the twelve tribes. Rev. 21:12. 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD EXHIBITED 

When Christ came, the whole earth, enshrouded in 
darkness, was sitting in the shadow of death. Israel, de- 
signed as a "holy nation," to enlighten the earth, was 
complacently holding before the world a lamp of empty 
forms, containing no oil of faith and love to produce light. 
John the Baptist announced Jesus as "the Lamb of God, 
which taketh away the sin of the world." Said he, "Re- 
pent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 
3 :2. Christ, the true representative of the kingdoms 
of glory and grace, was placed on exhibition before the 
world. 

"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; 
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of 
death light is sprung up." Matt. 4:16. It was daybreak 
to a world in darkness. Christ had come as High Priest 
of the kingdom of grace, that He might, through the 
reign of grace, reestablish men in the kingdom of glory. 
From first to last, the kingdom of God was His theme. 
With it He began His ministry. From the time of His 
baptism, "Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Verse 17. He 
"came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom 
of God." Mark 1:14. After giving His first discourse 
at Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He said, "I 
must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for 
therefore am I sent." Luke 4:43. When He called the 
twelve apostles to join Him in His work, "He sent them 



192 The Kingdom of God 

to preach the kingdom of God." Luke 9:2. When 
later He called other seventy, He sent them out with 
instruction to say, "The kingdom of God is come nigh 
unto you." Luke 10:9. 

During Christ's last interview before His ascension, He 
spoke of "things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Acts 
1 13. His appeal to men was to seek "first the kingdom 
of God, and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33), in prepa- 
ration for the kingdom of glory. John 3:3. The last 
message that is to go to the world is a call to keep the 
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. 
14:12. 'It is called "the everlasting gospel." Verse 6. 
Christ calls this same last-day message "this gospel of the 
kingdom." Matt. 24:14. He adds that the whole world 
must hear it before the end can come. 



A PRIESTHOOD KINGDOM 

T^he kingdom of grace is a priesthood kingdom. "This 
Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, 
sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth ex- 
pecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by 
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are 
sanctified." Heb. 10:12-14. 

Christ holds forth to a doubting and unbelieving world, 
as to doubting Thomas, those pierced hands, and pointing 
to His wounded side, says, "Be not faithless, but believ- 
ing." To the returning prodigal, He gives the royal robe 
of righteousness in exchange for a wasted life, and ex- 
tends a welcome to the Father's house. 

But "the kingdom of God within cometh not with ob- 
servation" ("outward show," margin). Its membership 
is not the visible church roll, for "the kingdom of God 
is within you." Luke 17:20, 21. It is the "church of the 
first-born" above, whose names are "written in heaven." 
Heb. 12:23. "The kingdom of God is . . . right- 
eousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom. 



The New Covenant Kingdom 193 

14:7. And righteousness is the law of God's kingdom 
implanted in the heart. 

THE KINGDOM OF GLORY REESTABLISHED THROUGH THE 
KINGDOM OF GRACE 

The work of the kingdom of grace in the heart is like 
the development of the ear of corn from the seed. The 
seed is planted, and dies; and as the result of its death, 
a sprout appears, which develops first a blade, then an 
ear, then the full corn in the ear. So when Christ, the 
Seed, is planted in the heart, self dies, and a new life 
begins, which develops the fruit of the Spirit. That 
seed grows until one is transplanted from the kingdom of 
darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1:13), 
to be prepared for translation into another kingdom — 
the eternal kingdom of glory; "for if ye do these things, 
ye shall never fall : for so an entrance shall be ministered 
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:10, 11). 

"God spake in ancient times from Sinai. He spake 
from the midst of thunder. Lightning was there, lapping 
its forked, fiery tongue about the quaking mountain. The 
people saw the burning flashes, which seemed to set the 
rugged rocks on fire ; and they heard the thunders, and the 
earthquake, which sounded in their ears like dreadful 
notes of anger, or as deep groans of anguish from an 
insulted Deity. 

"The truth which came from Sinai was great and 
powerful, but not without its circumstances. The law 
at the mountain s base was the law in all its power. The 
law preached without the mountain, preached without 
the thunder, preached without the lightning, preached 
without the earthquake, w^as the law without its seal of 
power. At the foot of Sinai, all Israel bowed down in 
reverence, and promised submission. 

"A law without pity, however terrible its circum- 



194 The Kingdom of God 

stances, can never serve the purpose of reforming the 
world. . . . The great law of reform in the moral 
world is a law of sacrifices. . . . The gospel has a 
Lamb in it. The Lamb must be kept in the gospel. It is 
the Lamb which takes away the sin of the world. . . . 
The blood-sealed covenant, which gives safety to the 
sons and daughters of men, embraces the promise of sub- 
mission and obedience to God. . . . The Mediator is 
Christ, who, by the covenant of His mediation, binds 
men to God in submission, and God to men in the prom- 
ise of His grace. . . . 

"The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. 
He does not destroy the law of God, so that nothing 
shall be sin, as some would seem to teach. No, He does 
no such thing as this. He takes away sin. . . . Sin is 
the transgression of the law. Every sin which a man has 
ever committed against God is imputed to the sinner, even 
if he ceases to repeat the same sins, until God forgives 
him. . . . He holds out no encouragements to the sin- 
ner for the forgiveness of his past sins, without a com- 
plete practical reformation. 

"God justly makes it the duty of every sinner now, 
immediately, to obey His commands and honor His law, 
even if he should never be forgiven the past. He com- 
mands all men everywhere to repent. But it is impos- 
sible for a sinner to become practically subject to Christ, 
obeying Him from the heart, without touching the cove- 
nant and its bloody seal. . . . He may worry over his 
sins, and seek after a feeling, until he finds some dream 
of deceit or other, which he may take as an evidence of 
forgiveness, while yet by no means humble before God. 
He may shout or sing, and seem die happiest person in 
existence; but it will avail him nothing until he submits 
his heart to become a faithful, obedient servant of Christ." 
— "Jesus in his Offices/' by A. G. Comings, pages 348- 
360. 

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sor- 



The New Covenant Kingdom 195 

rows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, 
and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgres- 
sions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement 
of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are 
healed." Isa. 53 '.4, 5. 

"My blest Redeemer and my Lord, 
I read my duty in Thy word ; 
But in Thy life the law appears, 
Drawn out in living characters." 

When the reign of the kingdom of grace has restored 
righteousness in the hearts of all penitents, Christ ceases 
His priestly ministry, His second advent takes place, and 
then will the prayer of His waiting disciples be answered : 
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it 
is in heaven." "Then shall He sit upon the throne of His 
glory." Matt. 25:31. 

Shall we not in faith surrender all, that we may be 
filled with all the fullness of His divine power for com- 
plete victory over sin? We shall then keep the com- 
mandments of God, and as heirs of His kingdom, enter 
through the gates into the new Jerusalem, the capital 
city of our King, there eternally to enjoy all the rights of 
His kingdom. Rev. 22:14. 

"Just as I am! Thy love, I own, 
Has broken every barrier down; 
Now to be Thine, and Thine alone, 
O Lamb of God, I come, I come." 



PART VII 

CONFLICTS IN THE KINGDOM 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Warfare Between Good and Evil Angels 

TN the beginning, God created "an innumerable com- 
A pany of angels." Heb. 12:22. They are real beings, 
part of the family of God. They were innocent; superior 
to man, yet, like man, subject to the government of God. 
Some fell, and later were cast out of heaven. Since the 
time of their casting out, they, with their leader, have 
sought the destruction of every member of the human 
family. They succeeded in involving our race in sin. 

Is there hope for man, with hereditary tendencies to 
evil, while beings of a superior order are still tempting 
him to sin? God has given the comforting assurance 
that "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound : 
that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace 
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
Christ our Lord." Rom. 5:20, 21. "He will not suffer 
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with 
the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may 
be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13. 

Of the relation of angels to those who are seeking sal- 
vation from sin, as that of ministers, or messengers: "Are 
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for 
them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14. 

196 



Warfare Between Good and Evil Angels 197 



ANGELS VISIT ABRAHAM AND LOT 

At a time of special peril to the cities of the plains of 
Jordan, two angels visited Abraham, to reveal to him the 
danger of his kinsman Lot. "And he lifted up his eyes 
and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him." Gen. 18:2. 
From the first verse, we may reasonably conclude that one 
of them was the Lord, God's "Angel of the Covenant." 
The eighth verse says, "And he," Abraham, "took butter, 
and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it 
before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and 
they did eat." After the two angels had gone, the Lord 
and Abraham remained conversing about the purpose of 
the visit. The other two journeyed on to Sodom. The 
nineteenth chapter opens with these words: "And there 
came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the 
gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet 
them." These two persons who had communed with' 
Abraham as men, are here said to be angels. They came 
to Sodom to assist Lot and his family in making a hasty 
departure from that doomed city, lest they should perish 
with the wicked. That night, evil angels stirred up a mob 
to mistreat them vilely. The two good angels withstood 
the attack; and at last, it became necessary for them to 
smite the mob with blindness. The next morning, they 
bore their message, and Lot took his departure. "Then 
the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone 
and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He over- 
threw those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabi- 
tants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." 
Verses 24, 25. The Lord saved Lot from this great 
calamity through the ministry of angels. 

ANGELS PROTECTED ELISHA AND SMOTE THE SYRIANS 

On different occasions Elisha the prophet gave warn- 
ing to the king of Israel, to protect him from the 



198 The Kingdom of God 

Syrians. Satan and his angels were eager to silence 
Elisha's testimony; for he was a prophet of God, and 
was familiar with His plan to defeat the schemes of Satan 
through the ministry of good angels. When in jeopardy 
of the Syrians, Elisha's servant asked, "Alas, my master! 
how shall we do?" "And the Lord opened the eyes of 
the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain 
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about 
Elisha." Elisha knew that the angels were there, al- 
though they were not visible to the human eye. The 
prophet did not pray for the Lord to send an army of 
angels, but to open the eyes of the young man that he 
might see God's angels already surrounding them. He 
then prayed and the Syrians were smitten with blindness, 
and Elisha led them into the camp of the king of Israel. 
In the days of Hezekiah, Satan again sought to over- 
throw the work and people of God. Sennacherib, king 
of Assyria, came with a huge host to war against Jerusa- 
lem. "And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, . . . 
and it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord 
went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an 
hundred fourscore and five thousand." 2 Kings 19:32-35. 
Such is the power of the angels sent to earth to minister 
to the children of God in their conflict with fallen angels. 

GOOD ANGELS EXCEL THE FALLEN ANGELS IN STRENGTH 

The psalmist David refers to the angels that "excel in 
strength." Ps. 103:20. And again he says, "The angel 
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, 
and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7. 

When Satan sought to overthrow Job and his posses- 
sions, the Lord asked him, "Hast thou considered My ser- 
vant Job; that there is none like him in the earth, a 
perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and 
escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and 
said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not Thou 



Warfare Between Good and Evil Angels 1 99 

made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about 
all that he hath on every side?" Job 1 17-10. 

Satan admitted that he found Job hedged in on every 
side, hence he could not destroy either him or his pos- 
sessions. What was Job's character? "A perfect and 
an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth 
evil." That is just the kind of man the Lord has prom- 
ised to surround with angels that are superior in strength 
to Satan and his angels. Satan acknowledged that the 
Lord had been true to His promise. That men might 
see how the children of God would fare but for the guar- 
dianship of good angels, when that hedge was withdrawn 
how soon all that was dear to Job was swept away! Job 
1 :6-22. 



JOHN THOUGHT AN ANGEL THE DEITY 

John, the beloved apostle, says: "I John saw these 
things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, 
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which 
showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See 
thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy 
brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the say- 
ings of this book: worship God." Rev. 22:8, 9. This 
angel was so superior in power to man that John, on be- 
holding him, thought he was the Lord of glory. The 
angel refused adoration, declaring that he was not Deity, 
but John's fellow-worshiper of God. 

THE ANGELS AT WORK 

When a view of the angels in their relation to God was 
opened before the prophet Isaiah, he said: "In the year 
that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon 
a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the 
temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six 
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he 



200 The Kingdom of God 

covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one 
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord 
of hosts : the whole earth is full of His glory." Isa. 6:1-3. 
The prophet felt so insignificant in contrast with the 
power of these heavenly beings, and especially that of the 
King, the Lord of hosts, that he cried, "Woe is me! for 
I am undone." The Lord then commissioned an angel' 
to bear to Isaiah the means of cleansing, thus teaching 
their ministry in the work of conversion. 

EACH LOYAL SOUL HAS AN ACCOMPANYING ANGEL 

All the power of these heavenly angels, supported by 
the power of God, is at the command of those who 
choose to walk with God. In Acts 5:19, 20, we have the 
record of an angel opening the prison doors and sending 
forth the apostles to continue their work of preaching 
the gospel. Later, Peter was imprisoned. "And, behold, 
the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined 
in the prison : and he smote Peter on the side, and raised 
him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off 
from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thy- 
self, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he 
saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow 
me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not 
that it was true which was done by the angel ; but thought 
he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the 
second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth 
unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: 
and they went out, and passed on through one street; 
and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when 
Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a 
surety, that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath de- 
livered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the 
expectation of the people of the Jews." Acts 12:7-11. 

When Judas, led by Satan, for thirty pieces of silver, 
betrayed his Lord into the hands of a mob who were 



Warfare Between Good and Evil Angels 201 

seeking His life, Jesus said, "Thinkest thou that I can- 
not now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give 
Me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matt. 26:53. 
"As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they 
went backward, and fell to the ground." John 18:6. 
Then Jesus said, "Thou couldest have no power at all 
against Me, except it were given thee from above." John 
19:11. 

On the morning of the resurrection, it is said: "And, 
behold, there was a great earthquake : for the angel of the 
Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back 
the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His counte- 
nance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 
and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as 
dead men." Matt. 28:2-4. This same power awaits 
every child of God in the conflict with Satan and his 
angels. 

When Christ gave instruction with reference to His 
care for even the weakest of His children *who are en- 
gaged in this conflict with Satan, He gave this comfort- 
ing assurance: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these 
little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their 
angels do always behold the face of My Father which is 
in heaven." Matt. 18:10. 

These Scriptures reveal the work of angels in their 
ministry for the unsaved. Jacob was cheered with the 
same revelation when he saw the ladder reaching from 
earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, 
and the Lord standing above it, directing their move- 
ments. See Gen. 28:10-15. There is more joy in heaven 
over one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine 
just persons who need no repentance. 



ANGELS GATHER AND WELCOME HOME THE SAVED 

How joyous at last will be the day "when the Son of 
man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with 



202 The Kingdom of God 

Him!" "And He shall send His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His 
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
the other." Matt. 24:31. How gladly will all the 
angels come at last to share in the welcome home of the 
ones they have been instrumental in rescuing in their con- 
flicts with Satan and his angels! 

With the privilege of such companionship, and the as- 
surance of final victory amid scenes of such transcendent 
glory, the weakest child of God is more than a match for 
all the fallen angels. The devils know there is a God. 
They believe and tremble at His power. With Christ en- 
throned within, with whom is all power in heaven and 
in earth, and surrounded by angels, we go forth to the 
conflict to meet a vanquished foe. Let us thank God and 
take courage. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Temperance and its Reward 

"Within our Christian land there dwells, 

Enshrined by legal right, 
A Moloch dark and strangely rude, 

That casts a withering blight 
Upon the manhood of our state, 

And o'er its boyhood life, 
The blue-eyed, honest, trusting kind, 

The treasures home holds dear." 

VLT HATSOEVER a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap." "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap 
in mercy." Seed, though small, bears a harvest. The 
$2,693,947,672 paid out in one year in the United States 
for whiskey, rum, beer, wines, and tobacco, will, without 
doubt, reap a harvest of drunkards a hundred fold. Often 
the seed-sowing that yields this harvest is overlooked, be- 
cause the seedtime and the harvest may be separated by a 
long lapse of time. 

Of first importance in temperance reform is the home 
table. When we consider that almost the reverse of the 
Edenic provision for man's physical sustenance is to-day 
deemed essential, it is time to review the situation can- 
didly. Flesh meats are thought to be the essentials, while 
cereals, fruits, and nuts, the original diet for man (see 
Gen. 1:29), are sparingly used. 

Prevention is the only rule for the parent in respect to 
the destructive habits of childhood and youth. The parent 
who prevents his child from beginning intemperate hab- 
its does much toward paving the way for a successful and 

203 



204 The Kingdom of God 

permanent temperance reform. The use of tobacco and 
strong drink naturally follows the unnatural bill of fare. 
The use of spices and condiments, tea and coffee, create 
a desire for something stronger, and step by step the down- 
ward path is trodden. As the turning of a switch sends 
two trains, which leave the same station over the same 
track, the one over beautiful, fruitful tablelands, and the 
other down through miasmic regions, so what seems to 
be a trivial deviation from the path of safety in the 
day of youth may end in ruin. It is highly important, 
therefore, that one start on the right track, and stick 
to it. 

PROPER DIET 

The following scientific statements are taken from a 
work entitled "Starving America," by Alfred W. Mc- 
Cann, one of the ablest food experts in America: "There 
never was a human body that did not contain six- 
teen substances. Evidently these substances are present 
as the result of no accident. They are: oxygen, nitrogen, 
hydrogen, carbon, chlorine, fluorine, iron, phosphorus, cal- 
cium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, sulphur, 
silica, iodine. The body gets these elements from its 
food. 

"All food contains some of these building materials. 
Some food contains all of them, except in such instances 
where man ignorantly removes them. A single drop of 
blood contains many millions of corpuscles, far more than 
all the visible stars in the sky. If we remove one ele- 
ment of the necessary sixteen from the food, we introduce 
the beginning of disaster into the body. 

"A handful of fertile earth, a handful of wheat, and 
the body of a man, each contains about sixteen elements. 
Our purpose will be to show the relationship of these ele- 
ments to life. 

"Oxygn is so necessary to life that we perish the mo- 
ment it is taken from us. . . . The iron in the blood 



Temperance and Its Reward 205 

uniting with the oxygen in the lungs carries its life-giving 
freight to the tissues, where it oxidizes or burns up the 
waste substances so dangerous to life. If the iron is not 
present in sufficient quantity to keep up the demands of 
the body, a large quantity of oxygen that ought to be in- 
side the body doing its work will remain outside the body, 
ready and willing to work, but unable to get in. 

"Meat is not wholly a godsend to the man who eats 
much of it, for the reason that it is deficient in the mineral 
salts which the body requires. 

"The time has come when we must teach the child that 
if he washes to live and grow strong and be useful, he must 
eat the foods God has made necessary for the growth 
of his body. 

"Grains and fruits and vegetables have the power of 
picking up the various necessary minerals from mother 
earth, and forming them into the complex organic com- 
pounds ready for animal life to assimilate. 

"The original grain of wheat contains, in organic form, 
all of the twelve mineral substances needed by the animal 
body. Chickens, guinea pigs, or monkeys fed on whole 
wheat bread will thrive; but fed on an exclusive white 
bread diet will die. 

"Some chickens were fed with polished rice, and others 
with natural brown rice. As has been here set down, the 
birds fed on polished rice died, the others thrived." (The 
Chinese are a hardy race. Unpolished rice forms the 
principal part of their diet.) 

"Too much meat, or too much nitrogenous food of any 
kind, — peas, beans, lentils, cheese, eggs, nuts, — requires 
the liver to produce a great quantity of bile in order to 
work them out of the system. 

"Most people consume as much energy in getting rid 
of worthless food as they do in a hard day's work. 

"Many of the races of the world scarcely ever eat 
meat.' 

See the robust Japanese, Greeks, Turks, Chinese, Rus- 



206 The Kingdom of God 

sians, Norwegians, Spanish peasants, Swiss peasants, and 
Scotch. 

"Let us have unbolted wheat meal containing all of 
the wheat, natural brown rice, old-fashioned oatmeal, 
unpearled barley, barley loaves of Biblical tradition, the 
maize loaves of history, and the wheaten loaves, the rice 
cakes, and the delicious oatcakes of centuries ago. Let 
us have wheat muffins of the whole wheat meal, and date 
cakes and fig cakes, and raisin and prune cakes. 

"The lima bean and the navy bean and pea and lentil 
are like meat, rich in nitrogen, but with the mineral salts 
that meat lacks. 

"By having lentils one day, peas the second day, and 
beans the third day, we vary the meals so as to get just 
what we need in right proportions. Of the cereals the 
oat is the richest in minerals, barley next, and wheat 
third, closely followed by rye, corn, and rice. Among 
vegetables, spinach is the richest in mineral matter, with 
cabbage, horse-radish, potatoes, and lettuce following 
close behind. Nuts are extremely rich in minerals. . . . 
The egg is rich in sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and 
chlorine. 

"All disease springs from pollution or impoverishment 
of the blood stream. 

"Beriberi is simply an extreme state of mineral starva- 
tion." 

THE TOBACCO HABIT 

The evil results of the tobacco habit are emphasized by 
the Hon. George W. Stubbs, judge of the juvenile court, 
Indianapolis. He says: 

"I have had before me more than six hundred boys 
who were users of cigarettes, most of whom had become 
cigarette fiends — that is to say, they had become addicted 
to the habit so long that it had mastered them; and I 
have found that in nearly every case where the offense 



Temperance and Its Reward 207 

charged was of a grievous, criminal, or degrading and 
debasing nature, the defendant was a user of cigarettes. 
Never a week goes by, and sometimes scarcely a day 
passes, that boys are not brought before me who are 
cigarette fiends. I have taken the opinion of physicians, 
and have examined into the subject myself, until I have 
become convinced that the insidious poison of the cigarette 
is at the bottom of most of the trouble." 

A noted physician says: "Tobacco has slain some of 
earth's noblest sons. General Grant, the great soldier- 
president of the United States, and the Emperor Freder- 
ick of Germany, both died before their time, of tobacco 
cancer. Nicotine is a paralyzer of every instrument or 
member of the body. It diminishes nerve force, produces 
dyspepsia, deposits a deadly soot in the lungs, destroys the 
voice, enfeebles the heart, — the pump of life, — causes 
blindness, destroys the finer senses of smell and taste, 
pollutes the breath, predisposes to disease, blunts the man- 
ners, lessens will power, and brings decay into every 
square inch of that noblest of earth's temples, the human 
body. This is the terrible indictment which science 
brings against tobacco. Its w T hole power is the power of 
death. It is a true 'Abaddon' or 'Apollyon.' " 

Alexander Ritchie speaks plainly of the sin of tobacco 
smoking: 

"What, oh, what are we coming to, when a death-deal- 
ing practice, which science teaches us destroys all the 
noblest powers of the human body, invades the church of 
the living God, and hitches to its chariot wheels not only 
church members by thousands, but (shame of all 
shames) the ministers of the Prince of life! To offer 
prayers to a pure and holy God with the breath laden 
with pollution and death is a mockery which will surely 
bring retribution from the offended Majesty of heaven. 

"Men do not dare to walk into temples of mere stone 
and mortar with tobacco in their lips, because they have 
been educated to believe such buildings holy; and by their 



208 The Kingdom of God 

abstinence from smoking in such places, they tacitly admit 
the unholy character of the tobacco habit. But thrice 
holy is the living human temple in which the Spirit of 
God dwells. What can be the measure of the insult of- 
fered to Him by the creature who impregnates every cor- 
ner of his fleshly temple with the fumes of death? And 
we shudder to think of the fate which must await a 
preacher of the gospel of life who, by his own lustful in- 
dulgence, brings into the world a family of enervated, 
hysterical, insane, dwarfish, consumptive children, only to 
die an early death, simply through his own wicked prac- 
tice of 'the sin of tobacco smoking.' " 

"In the office, in the parlor, 

On the sidewalk, on the streets, 
In the faces of the passers, 

In the eyes of those he meets, 
In the vestibule, the station, 

At the theater or ball, 
E'en at funerals and weddings, 

And at christenings and all. 
Signs may threaten, men may warn him, 

Babies cry, and women coax, 
But he cares not one iota, 

For he calmly smokes and smokes." 

THE TOBACCO HABIT IS EXPENSIVE 

The men and boys of the United States who smoke, 
burned up last year more than $1,200,000,000, more than 
two-thirds of the great war tax first levied by the govern- 
ment in the form of liberty bonds. 

The Wall Street Journal says that 100,000,000 ciga- 
rettes a day is the sales record of the British-American 
Tobacco Company. This means 36,500,000,000 a year. 
Every cigarette contains enough poison to kill two bull- 
frogs. If the tobacco company were using its products 
for the slaughter of frogs, the world might allow it to 
prosecute its business unchallenged; but it is using them 
to slaughter the world's boys. 



Temperance and Its Reward 209 

The Journal says further that the company "is unable 
to fill its orders, notwithstanding its factories encircle the 
globe." The sales now are more than five times what 
they were ten years ago. If the next ten years witness 
the same phenomenal rate of increase, the coffin lid will 
have been nailed down for millions of unthinking 
boys. . . . 

The Washington Post says that this same company 
received an order from the French government for 
7,000,000,000 cigarettes, enough, if laid end to end, 
to encircle the globe almost eight times. And this in time 
of war ! and when the government has to borrow millions 
of dollars! 

The nation of men spend for tobacco eighty-five times 
as much as is spent for foreign missions. 

Two ways are set before us. Matt. 7:13. One is an 
upward way, the other downward. One leads to the city 
of God, the other to destruction. Temperance leads up- 
wards, and intemperance downward. "Every man that 
striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." 1 Cor. 
9:25. "Add to your . . . knowledge temperance." 
1 Peter 1:5, 6. 

The principle of temperance was beautifully exempli- 
fied by General Harrison, when tempted to drink at a 
public dinner given in his honor when a candidate for 
the presidency of the United States. The general pledged 
his toast by drinking water. Another gentleman offered 
a toast, and said, "General, will you favor us by drink- 
ing a glass of wine?" The general, in a very gentlemanly 
way, begged to be excused. He was again urged to take 
a glass of wine. He arose from his seat and said : "Gentle- 
men, I have twice refused to partake of the wine cup. I 
had hoped that would be sufficient. Though you press 
the matter ever so much, not a drop shall pass my lips. I 
made a resolve, when I started in life, that I would avoid 
strong drink. That vow I have never broken. I am 
one of a class of seventeen young men who graduated at 



2IO The Kingdom of God 

college together. The other sixteen members of my class 
fill drunkards' graves — and all from the pernicious habit 
of wine drinking. I owe all my health, my happiness and 
prosperity, to that resolution. Would you urge me to 
break it now?" Sixteen lost by intemperance! And had 
they lived as General Harrison lived, the world would 
have felt their influence and been the better for their 
having lived. 

AN EX-GO,VERNOR'S TESTIMONY 

J. Frank Hanley, ex-governor of Indiana, tells why he 
hates the liquor traffic: 

"I have seen so much of the evils of the liquor traf- 
fic in the last few years, so much of its enormous waste, 
so much of its physical ruin, so much of its mental blight, 
so much of its tears and heartaches, that I have come to 
regard the business as one that must be held and con- 
trolled by strong and effective laws. I bear no malice 
toward those engaged in the business, but I hate the liquor 
traffic. I hate its every phase. I hate it for its intoler- 
ance; I hate it for its arrogance; I hate it for its hypoc- 
risy; I hate it for its false pretense; I hate it for its com- 
mercialism; I hate it for its greed and avarice; I hate 
it for its sordid love of gain at any price. 

"I hate it for its domination in politics; I hate it for 
its influence in civic affairs; I hate it for its incessant ef- 
forts to debauch the suffrage of the country, for the 
cowards it makes of public men; I hate it for its utter 
disregard for law ; I hate it for the load it straps to labor's 
back, for the palsied hands it gives to toil, for its wounds 
to genius, and for the tragedy of its might-have-been. 

"I hate it for the human wrecks it has caused ; I hate it 
for the almshouses it has peopled, for the prisons it fills, 
for the insanity it begets, for its countless graves in pot- 
ters' fields. 

"I hate it for the mental ruin it imposes on its victims, 



Temperance and Its Reward 21 1 

for its spiritual blight, for its moral degradation. I hate 
it for the crimes it has committed. I hate it for the homes 
it has destroyed. I hate it for the hearts it has broken. 
I hate it for the malice it has planted in the hearts of 
men — for its poisons, for its bitterness — for the Dead 
Sea fruit with which it starves their souls. I hate it for 
the grief it causes womanhood, — the scalding tears, the 
hopes deferred, the strangled aspirations, its burden of 
want and care. 

"I hate it for its heartless cruelty to the aged, the 
infirm, and the helpless, for the shadow it throws upon 
the lives of children, for its monstrous injustice to blame- 
less little ones. 

"I hate it as virtue hates vice, as truth hates error, as 
righteousness hates sin, as justice hates wrong, as liberty 
hates tyranny, as freedom hates oppression. 

"I hate it as Abraham Lincoln hated slavery. And as 
he sometimes saw, in prophetic vision, the end of slavery, 
and the coming of the time when the sun would shine 
and the rain should fall upon no slave in all the repub- 
lic, so I sometimes seem to see the end of this unholy 
traffic — the coming of the time when, if it does not wholly 
cease to be, it shall find no safe habitation anywhere be- 
neath 'Old Glory's stainless stars.' " 

"Great Spirit of the eternal God, 

Inspire our hearts to-day, 
And for our weakness, give us strength 

To drive this curse away. 
Consume this crimson-handed power, 

This Moloch that destroys, 
And save to God and fatherland 

Our hundred thousand boys." 

Let us work for the eradication of intemperance as our 
Father in heaven is working for the eradication of sin, 
not looking upon it with any degree of allowance; and 
some day the victory will be w T on. 



CHAPTER XXV 

Miracles True and False 

jLJ AVING learned that God is the Creator of the uni- 
verse and the Author of nature, it is natural that 
men should expect to trace through all of His operations 
in His revelation of His Almighty acts what they term 
miracles. Every planet in the heavenly galaxy, every 
blade of grass, every unfolding flower, every budding and 
fruiting tree, every creature in the animal kingdom, with 
man himself the climax of its marvelous manifestations, is 
a constant testimony of miraculous power unceasingly op- 
erating in the realm of the natural world. 

Man by observing the animal creation below him sees 
in it an inability to perform acts of knowledge and 
power equal to his own. But being himself the work- 
manship of an almighty Creator, it is but natural tha! 
he should recognize in God a Being whose every act is 
a supernatural manifestation of wisdom and power. 

If in giving His word of divine revelation to man in 
which He reveals His rightful claim upon his worship, 
He manifested no power superior to that possessed by 
man, the authenticity of such a revelation would at once 
be questioned. Man would expect that a revelation of a 
system of religion which came from God would be accom- 
panied by miraculous manifestations in keeping with His 
character. 

So generally is it recognized that a system of religion, 
to be genuine, must be attended by miracles that every 
impostor who has arisen and undertaken to delude the 
world into following his religious system, from the days 



Miracles True and False 213 

of Elymas the sorcerer, has undertaken to associate evi- 
dence of miracles with his religious scheme. All heathen 
systems from the days of the Athenians, who worshiped 
an image supposed to have fallen down from Jupiter, 
backward to the first apostate system, were founded upon 
or supported by supposed miracles. 

In giving a divine revelation to man, it was therefore 
necessary that God should manifest Himself in miracles 
in connection with that revelation and the religious sys- 
tem it proclaimed. It must also present miracles of such 
a character as to make it possible to distinguish them 
from the jugglery of magicians of false systems. 

In no other way could the Lord be recognized as the 
only true God and His religious system the only system 
of true worship. 

Thus from the very beginning of the writing of the 
Bible in the days of Moses, God's religious system was 
arrayed against that of Egypt, and both systems were sup- 
ported by miracles. Exodus, chapters 7-12. 

God's first plague upon Egypt was a miracle by which 
He destroyed the serpents, which in the Egyptian system 
were objects of worship. 

The second was directed against the river Nile, which 
was adored as an object of worship. Its refreshing waters, 
which they had regarded as sacred and life giving, were 
turned to blood, and its fish, which were also regarded 
as deities, were turned to putrefaction. 

The third caused all their sacred waters to send forth 
multitudes of frogs to infest their whole land and be- 
come an annoyance, and caused the people to detest the 
conduct of their gods. 

The fourth brought lice in such abundance through- 
out the land as to prohibit all Egyptians from worship- 
ing their gods. In Egypt at that time, says Gleig, "No 
one could approach the altars of Egypt upon whom so 
impure an insect harbored." During this plague no act 
of Egyptian worship could be performed. It was this 



214 The Kingdom of God 

that caused their magicians to cry out, "This is the finger 
of God." 

The fifth was designed to undermine the trust of the 
Egyptians in Beelzebub, or the Fly-god. He was wor- 
shiped as the protector against swarms of flies. This 
miracle of swarms of flies gave evidence of his inability 
to protect the people as they had believed him able to 
do, and it revealed the God of the Hebrews as the only 
God in whose protection men may safely trust. 

The sixth was directed against their debasing system of 
brute worship. By it their sacred bull, ram, heifer, goat, 
and many other sacred animals were destroyed. In this 
act was revealed the power of the living God in contrast 
to the impotence of their now dead brute deities. 

The seventh was directed against the custom of offer- 
ing human sacrifices to propitiate the wrath of Typhon, 
the evil principle. Their ashes were taken up and strewn 
to the winds by the officiating priests in order that evil 
might be averted wherever a particle of the ashes fell. 
Moses took a handful of ashes from the furnace and 
threw them into the air according to their custom, and 
they became boils and blains upon all the people of the 
land. Since neither king nor priest escaped while Moses 
and Aaron stood in their midst protected, the supremacy 
of the God of the Hebrews was again vindicated. 

The eighth and tenth, like the two directed against the 
worship of the river Nile, were directed against the wor- 
ship of Isis and Osiris. These two idols, next to the 
river Nile, were the supreme objects of Egyptian wor- 
ship. They originally represented the sun and the moon, 
and were supposed to control light and darkness, and the 
elements of nature. So great was the destruction by hail 
and so unusual the lightnings and the thunder that 
Pharaoh cried out, "It is enough. Intreat the Lord that 
there be no more mighty thunderings, and hail." 

The ninth was directed against Serapis, whose office 
was to protect the land of Egypt from locusts. At the 



Miracles True and False 215 

word of Moses their land was filled with locusts, and their 
houses from least to greatest throughout all the land were 
invaded by the pest. Only upon the entreaty of Moses 
could they be removed. Again the true God gave the 
people of Egypt an evidence of His power over their god 
in whom they trusted for deliverance from locusts. 

Then followed the tenth, in which the gods of Isis 
and Osiris were again assailed by three days of darkness 
that could be felt spreading over all their land, so that 
they saw not one another for three days. Thus the true 
God summoned nature, in which they trusted, to witness 
to Him as the only true and living God. 

The eleventh and last of the series was an exhibition 
of divine judgment upon the Egyptian nation for their 
mistreatment of the Israelites who had so long served as 
bondmen among them. They had slain their offspring 
at birth as the last high-handed outrage upon them, and 
God now, as an example of infinite justice, recompensed 
their evil course upon their own heads in righteous retri- 
bution. 

That night the angel of death passed through every 
home, and from the lowliest cot to the kingly palace, the 
first-born in every house was slain. From every family in 
Egypt there arose such a wail of sorrow and defeat as 
their nation had never before witnessed, and God had 
given ample evidence both to Egypt and Israel to teach 
them that He was not only a God of power but of justice. 
Though He bears long with insult and abuse of His 
people, the day of retribution awaits all injustice. 

By these miraculous exhibitions of divine justice the 
Lord says, When Pharaoh shall say, "Shew a miracle" 
(Ex. 7:9), "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute 
judgment: I am the Lord." Ex. 12:12. Reviewing these 
miracles, in which the power of all the gods of Egypt was 
challenged and ignominiously defeated, Jethro, Moses' 
father-in-law, said : "Now I know that the Lord is greater 
than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly 



21 6 The Kingdom of God 

He was above them." Ex. 18:11. Thus the true God 
was unquestionably vindicated. 

THE SUN STOOD STILL 

Through the miracles performed in the deliverance of 
Israel in Egypt, God had educated Israel to believe in 
miracles. The miracles in Egypt formed the basis of His 
last mighty appeal to the unbelieving who died in the 
wilderness to accept the new covenant relation through 
faith, and enter the promised inheritance. Num. 14:21-24. 

It is not strange, therefore, that Joshua should 
through faith command the sun to stand still in an hour 
of crisis in a great battle, until victory should be gained. 

JONAH SAVED BY A WHALE 

The incident of Jonah having been swallowed by a 
great fish as recorded in the book of Jonah, is designed to 
teach a very practical lesson of God's direct interest in, 
and supervision of, each individual and city over which 
He still rules. He performed this wonderful miracle for 
the encouragement of the missionary through whom He 
was endeavoring to save a wicked city from immediate de- 
struction. God's plan was effectual, and the city was 
spared its doom for a long period. 

The record says: "The Lord had prepared a great fish 
to swallow up Jonah." Jonah 1:17. 

"There remains therefore," Professor Townsend main- 
tains, in the light of the highest criticism, "only one logi- 
cal conclusion, which is this: 

" 'The infinite and eternal Author of life must have 
interposed, or the earth as we see it never would have 
been, or having been, would have remained forever deso- 
late ; there would have been no first oak to cast upon the 
earth its shadow, and no first man to walk its surface. 
But if God could interpose, then the earth could bring 



Miracles True and False 217 

forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and 
every tree after its kind, the fish and the bird after their 
kind, and lastly man after his kind. 

11 'Hence it follows that the destructive critic, who de- 
cided a moment ago to abandon Christianity because its 
logic required him to believe in miracles, must not only 
abandon Christianity, but, to be consistent, must abandon 
himself, that is, must deny his own existence, for the 
origin of the human race requires supernatural interposi- 
tion as much as did the preservation of Jonah in the 
stomach of the sea-monster. But the moment such in- 
terposition is admitted, that moment riddles are solved 
and all Bible miracles accounted for. 

' 'By such interpositions Israel could pass unharmed 
through the midst of the sea; Daniel could remain for a 
night in safety among the lions; Shadrach, Meshach, and 
Abednego could walk unhurt "in the midst of the burn- 
ing, fiery furnace," and Jonah could remain unharmed 
for three, or, for that matter, for thirty days in the stom- 
ach of a sea-monster. 

1 'We may condense this part of the argument into two 
sentences: If God could create Adam, he could save 
Jonah. He did create Adam; therefore he could save 
Jonah. 

" 'This, then, is the evangelical confession of faith : We 
believe the Bible narratives and miracles because on scien- 
tific grounds they are possible ; because they are supported 
by circumstantial, monumental, and other indisputable 
proofs, and because there were purposes of sufficient mag- 
nitude to justify divine interposition.' " — From Article 
entitled "Proving Jonah and the Whale" Literary Di- 
gest, Sept. 27, 191 3. 

Christ confirms this record of Jonah in the following 
words: "But He answered and said unto them, An evif 
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there 
shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet 
Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in 



21 8 The Kingdom of God 

the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days 
and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt. 12:39, 
40. Not only does the Master confirm the record of 
Jonah, but He bases upon it a prophecy of His own ex- 
perience when the grave should claim Him as its victim. 
Either we must reject the words of Christ, or accept 
these miracles as recorded in the Word of God. 



TURNING WATER INTO WINE 

Since Christ, as Creator, could by His word create a 
grape-vine, and cause it to produce grapes which upon be- 
ing pressed would yield wine, it is not difficult to compre- 
hend how the same creative word could change water into 
wine, as recorded in the second chapter of John. This 
was the beginning of the many miracles which Christ per- 
formed while on the earth. 

It is likewise conclusive that the same word that in 
the beginning could create man from the dust of the 
ground, can restore the withered hand, rebuke the fever, 
restore the palsied limb, or raise the dead. Christ's life 
on earth from conception to ascension was a continuous" 
manifestation of miraculous power. 

THE "PENTECOSTAL" AND OTHER MOVEMENTS 

Under the above heading the editor of the Overcomer, 
January, 19 10, gives the following illustration of the 
counterfeit: 

"In confirmation of our statement that evil spirits can, 
and do, find entry to the bodies or minds of true children 
of God, and that the door has been peculiarly opened to 
them through the medium of 'Tongues,' we give the fol- 
lowing extract: 

" 'It still remains a burning question as to whether 
the speaking in tongues that we know to-day is Scriptural 
or not. In my opinion we have sinned in that we have 



Miracles True and False 219 

neglected the simple command of the Lord, to "try the 
spirits, whether they are of God." . . . The Lord 
led me in Baak and other places, into contact with the 
"Spirits" which are manifested in the so-called "Tongue- 
movement." . . . And now that I have come into 
contact with the spirits I must say a word of warning 
against this demoniacal power which has gained an in- 
fluence over so many of the children of God. To this 
end I will give a short account of my experience among 
them. 

" 'This year we had our tent in A Our brother 

(the leader in A ) had been present at the 

Tongues Conference in England and Amsterdam, and 
later on in Mulheim and Ruhr. He himself did not 
speak with Tongues, but he was in favor of the move- 
ment. Many of the members of the gemeinschaft (com- 
munity) in which this brother is minister, received the 
gift of Tongues by laying on of hands of brethren who 
took part in the conference at Mulheim. Different things 
that he observed made him doubtful, and eventually skep- 
tical in the matter. He resolved to investigate, that is 
to "try the spirits," and came to the conclusion that it 
was with demons that they had to reckon. During this 
trying of the spirits, which as far as I can judge was 
Scriptural, among much else, the following occurred: 
One spirit announced through a child of God in Tongues, 
"Cursed be Jesus Christ." Another brother who spoke 
in Tongues, and whose spirit was tried, said /'Worship 
me." The spirit in this man demanded direct worship, 
which the Holy Spirit does not do. (John 16:14, 15.) 

" 'In the early part of September I came into personal 
contact with one of the spirits. ... A sister who had 
received the gift of Tongues by the laying on of hands at 
the conference at Mulheim, when it had been proved that 
the spirit by which she spoke was a demon, wished to be 
set free. For several hours we prayed with, and for her. 
The spirit which had previously spoken of Golgotha and 



220 The Kingdom of God 

the Blood, of glory and of revival, now began to abuse 
us in Tongues in the most fearful manner. When we 
commanded him to depart in the name of Jesus, he told 
us simply we need take no further trouble, he did not in- 
tend to go, we had better depart. Then the spirit began 
threatening the sister in Tongues. 

" 'He was furious with her that she had betrayed him, 
and he threatened to destroy her. The more we prayed 
the more he raged, and cursed, and swore and threatened 
us. I am not at all an emotional man, but I had the 
impression that the room was full of demons. The spirit 
flung the sister about the room, tore and bit her body 
in a fearful way. . . . We ourselves heard the spirit 
cursing and swearing in Tongues. The words used were 
so awful that I cannot write them down. I understood 
a good deal without the sister's interpretation, for at 
times the spirit spoke in Latin, Italian, and sometimes 
French. Unfortunately I could only understand frag- 
ments without interpretation, as the spirit spoke very 
rapidly. It is awful to think that these demons, raging, 
swearing, and threatening to murder us, up to this time 
had spoken to the children of God of Golgotha and re- 
vivals, and other spiritual matters, and had been believed. 
What is to become of the people of God if they believe 
such demons? 

" 'These speakers with Tongues act in the same way 
as spiritualists and their mediums. . . .' " 

PROVE THE SPIRITS 

The following extracts are from an article under the 
above heading which appeared in the Overcomer of June, 
1 910. The questions are outlined by Mr. Evan Rob- 
erts, the leader of the remarkable revival movement in 
Wales, in order that Christian workers might be set pray- 
ing and seeking light so that they might know the work- 
ings of God and the counterfeit workings of the enemy. 



Miracles True and False 22 1 

The following are some of the questions and answers: 

"Do you think it possible for a Christian to be de- 
ceived? even when true and faithful?" 

"Yes. The believer can be deceived through lack of 
knowledge. Ignorance opens the way for evil spirits to 
work. They can counterfeit the workings of God to the 
soul, so that he believes that the 'light' which comes to 
him is from God. As he accepts any false light from 
deceiving spirits, he is deceived." 

"Do you think it possible for a soul to surrender itself 
to evil spirits believing it to be surrendering to the Holy 
Spirit?" 

"Yes. The believer having believed the lie, now yields 
himself up to the 'light' he thinks has come from God. 
The evil spirit thus gains possession upon the ground 
of the lie. The more w^hole-hearted the devotion the 
deeper the surrender, and hence the deeper the deception. 
This is how I was deceived. I was whole-hearted for 
God, obedient to the light God had given ; knew the Lord 
as my Saviour and sanctifler, but evil spirits deceived me. 
They came to me with what looked like some new truth 
from God which had the apparent support of Scripture; 
and was something I thought would make me more use- 
ful in God's service. I longed to have God's highest and 
best, and the deceiving spirits worked upon that. I be- 
lieved their lies, and was deceived. I believed that the 
experience they gave me was from God ; sometimes I had 
misgivings which brought unrest, but the deceiving spirits 
were careful to tell me that 'unbelief came from Satan, 
and fearing to 'disobey God' I continued in my bondage. 
They would not allow me to question the experience I 
had received, and this was one subtle way they kept me 
deceived." 

"Do you know of any doctrines of demons? Enumer- 
ate the ones you know of." 

"Yes. 'Doctrines of demons' may be under the guise 
of Holiness and sanctification, and so subtle are these 



222 The Kingdom of God 

demons in their deceptive teaching, that it is only the man 
of deep experience who can detect them; for they will 
float a ton of truth to launch one lie, and carefully keep 
the lie covered until they gain possession." 

The times are perilous. The last days have been 
reached. Deceptions abound. The Bible says: "To the 
law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to 
this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 
8:20. 

False manifestations are evidence of true manifesta- 
tions. There is to be a genuine outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit in the latter days more powerful than Pentecost in 
apostolic times. Joel 2:1, 23-32. The last days of this 
prophecy include the last day of human history. It began 
to be fulfilled moderately in apostolic days. It will reach 
its climax in the very last days. Joel 2 123. Satan runs 
ahead doing great things with the counterfeit, but the 
Lord follows in due time doing great things through the 
genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Joel 2:20, 21. 

Commenting on the gospel commission, and its accom- 
panying power, H. L. Hastings says: 

"Better 'all authority,' as in the A. R. V. The word 
is not dunamiSj power, but authority (exousia), including 
ability, place, rulership, right to exercise power. The 
word dunamis is used in Acts 1 :8. 'All power is given 
unto me.' Did you ever think how much power there is 
on earth? There is the power of the wind. Do you 
know of anybody who can control that? There is the 
power of the waves. Do you know of anybody who can 
master them ? There are the powers of nature, — the 
heaving of the tides ; the swelling of the seeds in the earth ; 
the mighty upspringing that clothes the field with grass. 
There is the power of the clouds. There is the power of 
heat, in which the strongest iron that ever was forged 
will melt. There is the power that pours down floods 
from on high. . . . Think of the millions of glowing 
orbs that flame through the skies. Think of this world 



Miracles True and False 223 

rolling in its mighty orbit. Think of the sun sweeping 
on its eternal pathway. Think of the power that moves 
these things. Some people do not understand how the 
sun could be made to stand still. Well, if you will tell 
me what keeps it going, I will tell you how it was made 
to stand still. All power in the universe. . . . All 
power over men; all power over devils; all power over 
everything. 'All power.' You have no power over the 
winds, but He could speak to the winds, and they obeyed 
Him. You have no power over the waves, but He could 
say, 'Peace, be still,' and there was a great calm. You 
have no power over 'all manner of diseases,' but He spoke 
to the sick, and healed them. You have no power over 
evil spirits, but He cast out devils, with His word. You 
have no power over the dead, but He called them from 
the silence of the tomb, and bade them live." 

Such is the power of the Word of God, that it speaks 
to hearts to-day with transforming power, and they are 
changed from a state of hopeless, helpless despair into 
the character and hope represented in the life of Christ. 
Its miracles of divine grace are abundant. We have not 
passed the age of miracles. Every man who ever tested 
the call of Christ to a transformed life as revealed in the 
Word by the touch of faith is a witness to its efficacy 
and power. And the word of His power ever has been, 
now is, and ever will be a miracle-working power. 



PART VIII 

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE CONFLICT 

CHAPTER XXVI 

Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 

T N His attempts to make plain to the children of men 
A His purpose, God has left nothing undone that could 
be done. He has multiplied visions, and used similitudes 
by the ministry of the prophets. He spoke His law in 
the hearing of the people. He sent His Son to live and 
die for the race. He wrought miracles. He ministered to 
the poor and the unfortunate. He gave His Spirit in 
Pentecostal power, and He has given signs by which man 
might know that His everlasting kingdom of glory is soon 
to be restored to this earth. He says : "What more could 
have been done to My vineyard, that I have not done in 
it?" If men were as desirous of being enlightened and 
saved as God is to save them, none would be lost. 

THE DESTRUCTION 0,F JERUSALEM 

This is further illustrated in Christ's prophecies of the 
destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world. 

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: 
and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the 
building of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See 
ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There 
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall 

224 



Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 225 

not be thrown down." Matt. 24:1, 2. After hearing 
this startling utterance the disciples desired to know more 
of the time when that calamity should come upon Jerusa-. 
lem. They therefore raised the following questions: 
"And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples 
came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall 
these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy 
coming, and of the end of the world?" Verse 3. They 
associated the destruction of Jerusalem with the second 
advent of Christ, as in Acts 1 15, 6 they associated the 
restoration of the kingdom with the promise of the out- 
pouring of the Spirit upon the day of Pentecost. Christ! 
plainly answers their questions. He informs them of the 
destruction of Jerusalem in verses 15-20: "When ye 
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken 
of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso 
readeth, let him understand) : then let them which be in 
Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the 
housetop not come down to take anything out of his house : 
neither let him which is in the field return back to take 
his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, 
and to them that give suck in those days! but pray ye 
that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the 
Sabbath day." 

Luke speaks of the same event thus: "And when He 
was come near, He beheld the city and wept over it, say- 
ing, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy 
day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now 
they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come 
upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about 
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every 
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy 
children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee 
one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the 
time of thy visitation." Luke 19:41-44. "And when ye 
shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know 
that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which 



226 The Kingdom of God 

are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let not them 
which are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be 
the days of vengeance, that all things which are written 
may be fulfilled." Luke 21 120-22. In a. d. 70 the 
Roman army surrounded the city as a sign that its destruc- 
tion was about to be accomplished. It then fell back, 
and gave opportunity for those who believed the Master's 
words to make their escape. With what interest must 
those who believed have watched the movements of the 
Roman army! 

"Cestius, the Roman commander in the East, 'removed 
with his whole army' from Caesarea 'and marched to An- 
tipatris.' Next he came to Aphek, which he captured; 
and next to Lydda, which, being deserted, he burnt. And 
so he 'marched forward; and ascending by Bethoron, he 
pitched his camp at a certain place called Gabao, fifty fur- 
longs (seven and a half miles) distant from Jerusalem.' 

"Next Cestius 'took his whole army along with him, 
and put the Jews to flight, and pursued them to Jerusa- 
lem. He thus pitched his camp upon the elevation called 
Scopus (or water tower) ; which was distant seven fur- 
longs from the city.' Then 'on the fourth day' 'he put 
his army in array,' and brought it into the suburbs, or 
outer city. The people 'retired from the temple.' Cestius 
burnt the suburbs, or new city, and passed on, and 'came 
into the upper city, and pitched his camp over against 
the royal palace.' And now the real city was encom- 
passed, and the siege was begun. But after besieging 
the place five days, when the Jews were fearing the 
place would be taken immediately, when a faction had 
actually started to open the gates from the inside, 'and 
to admit Cestius as their benefactor,' and when 'had he 
but continued the siege a little longer, he had certainly 
taken the city, . . . that very day,' Cestius, 'despair- 
ing of any expectation of taking it,' and 'without having 
received any disgrace,' 'retired from the city without 
any reason in the world/ And then 'many of the most 



Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 227 

eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from 
a ship when it was going to sink.' ,: Later, under Titus, 
the terrible siege of Jerusalem utterly destroyed the city, 
a. D. 70. 

SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS 

Sun and Moon 

With the sign, the Roman army surrounding the city, 
that had been given to mark the near approach of the 
destruction of Jerusalem so marvelously fulfilled, w T e 
are prepared to enter with confidence upon the study of 
the signs in the sun, moon and stars, which the Master 
at the same time enumerated as signs of the coming king- 
dom of glory. 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall 
the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers 
of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear 
the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall 
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the 
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with pow r er 
and great glory. And He shall send. His angels with a 
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together 
His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven 
to the other. 

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his 
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know 
that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see 
all these things, know that it (Christ's coming) is near, 
even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This genera- 
tion shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall 
not pass away." Matt. 24:29-35. "The sun shall be 
darkened in his going forth." "I will cause the sun to 
go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the 
clear day." 



228 The Kingdom of God 

All these specifications must be fulfilled in the one 
event of darkening, that fulfills the predictions made 
by the Lord, as a sign of the end of the world, and the 
setting up of the kingdom of glory. The following his- 
torical facts are sufficient to show that such a darkening 
did occur on May 19, 1780, fulfilling every specifica- 
tion here set forth. 

HISTORY CORROBORATES THE PREDICTIONS OF PROPHECY 

The Boston Gazette, of May 22, 1780, says: "The 
printers acknowledge their incapacity of describing the 
phenomenon which appeared in that town on Friday 
last. It grew darker and darker till nearly one o'clock, 
when it became so dark that the inhabitants were obliged 
to quit their business, and they, had to dine by the light 
of the candle. . . . Such a phenomenon was never be- 
fore seen here by the oldest person living" 

Josiah Litch, in his "Prophetic Expositor," describes it 
as follows: 

"I refer to the dark day of A. D. 1780, May 19. 
That day was a day of supernatural darkness. It was 
not an eclipse of the sun, for the moon was nearly at 
its full; it was not owing to a thickness of the atmos- 
phere, for the stars were seen. The darkness began 
about g A. M. ("in his going forth") and continued 
through the day. Such was the darkness that work was 
suspended in the field and shop; beasts and fowls re- 
tired to their rest, and houses were illuminated at din- 
ner time. . . . The sun was super naturally darkened." 

Robert Sears' "Guide to Knowledge," New York, 
1844, has the following: "On the nineteenth of May, 
1780, an uncommon darkness took place all over New 
England, and extended to Canada. It continued about 
fourteen hours, or from ten o'clock in the morning till 
midnight. ... The causes of these phenomena are un- 
known. They certainly were not the result of eclipses." 



Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 229 

Milo Bostwick, writing from Camden, New Jersey, 
March 3, 1848, says: "The nineteenth of May, in the 
year 1780, I well remember; I was then in my sixteenth 
year. The morning was clear ('I will darken the earth 
in the clear day') and pleasant, but somewhere about 
eight o'clock my father came into the house and said 
there was an uncommon appearance in the sun. There 
were not any clouds, but the air was thick, having a 
smoky appearance, and the sun shone with a pale and 
yellowish hue, but kept growing darker and darker un- 
til it was hid from sight. At noon we lit a candle, but 
it did not give light as in the night, and my father could 
not see to read with two candles. My father and mother, 
who were pious, thought the day of judgment was near. 
They sat up that night, during the latter part of which 
they said the darkness disappeared, and then the sky 
seemed as usual, but the moon, which was at its full, 
had the appearance of blood/' 

President Dwight says: "The nineteenhth of May, 
1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were lighted 
in many houses. The birds were silent and disappeared. 
The fowls retired to roost. It was the general opinion 
that the day of judgment was at hand. The legislature 
of Connecticut was in session at Hartford, but being 
unable to transact business, adjourned." — Connecticut 
Historical Collections. 

The sun was darkened and the moon became as blood 
May 19, 1780, fulfilling accurately every specification of 
prophecy that such events would occur as signs of the 
second advent of Christ. 

SIGNS IN THE STARS 

Following this the prophecy says "the stars of heaven 
fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her un- 
timely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Not 
as ripe fruit that falls straight down from the tree, but 



230 The Kingdom of God 

as unripe fruit that is forced from the tree by a mighty 
wind. In Nov. 13, 1833, this prediction was fulfilled. 

The following is taken from "Burrit's Geography of 
the Heavens," pages 157, 158: "But the most sublime 
phenomenon of shooting stars of which the world has 
furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the 
United States on the morning of the thirteenth of No- 
vember, 1833. The entire extent of this astonishing ex- 
hibition has not been precisely ascertained; but it cov- 
ered no inconsiderable part of the earth's surface. The first 
appearance was that of fire-works of the most imposing 
grandeur, covering the entire vault of heaven with myri- 
ads of fire balls resembling sky-rockets. The corusca- 
tions were bright, gleaming, and incessant, and they fell 
as thick as the flakes in the early snows of December. 

"To the splendors of this celestial exhibition the most 
brilliant sky-rockets and fire-works of art bear less rela- 
tion than the twinkling of the most tiny star to the 
broad glare of the sun. The whole heavens seemed in 
motion, and suggested to some the awful grandeur of the 
image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of 
the sixth seal, when 'the stars of heaven fell unto the 
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when 
she is shaken of a mighty wind.' " 

The celebrated astronomer and meteorologist, Professor 
Olmstead, of Yale College, says: "Those who were so 
fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars 
on the morning of Nov. 13, 1833, probably saw the 
greatest display of celestial fire-works that has ever been 
since the creation of the world, or at least within the 
annals covered by the pages of history. 

"The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to 
cover no inconsiderable part of the earth's surface, from 
the middle of the Atlantic on the East to the Pacific on 
the West; and from the Northern coast of South Amer- 
ica to undefined regions among the British Possessions 
on the North, the exhibition was visible, and everywhere 



Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 23 1 

presented nearly the same appearance. This is no longer 
to be regarded as a terrestrial, but as a celestial phe- 
nomenon; and shooting stars are now to be no more 
viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the 
atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from 
the planetary voids." 

Samuel Kinns, Ph. D., F. R. A. S., says: "By far 
the most splendid display on record, surpassing in 
grandeur the most imposing artificial fire-works, was on 
the thirteenth of November, 1833. An incessant dis- 
play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in 
the heavens for several hours. Some of them were of 
considerable magnitude and peculiar form. One, of a 
large size, remained for some time stationary in the 
zenith over the Falls of Niagara, emitting streams of 
light. The wild dash of the waters as contrasted with 
the fiery uproar above them, formed a scene of unequalled 
sublimity. In many districts the people were terror- 
struck, even the more enlightened were filled with awe." 

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE 

John, upon the Isle of Patmos, viewed the same 
scene, and he gives the following graphic description of 
what he saw: "And I beheld when he had opened the 
sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake. . . . 
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled 
together; and every mountain and island were moved 
out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and 
the great men, and the fich men, and the chief captains, 
and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every 
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks 
of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, 
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for 
the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be 
able to stand?" Rev. 6:12-17. 



232 The Kingdom of God 

The earthquake in which the town of Lisbon, Portu- 
gal, was destroyed, shook a large part of the earth. Over 
fifty thousand people were destroyed. History has ever 
since spoken of it as "The Great Earthquake." Sears 
speaks of it as follows: 

"The great earthquake of Nov. I, 1755, extended 
over a tract of at least 4,000,000 square miles. Its ef- 
fects were even extended to the waters, in many places 
where the shocks were not perceptible. It pervaded the 
greater portions of the continents of Europe, Africa, and 
America; but its extreme violence was exercised on the 
southwestern part of the former. . . . Soon after the 
shock, which happened near high water, the tide rose 
in an instant forty feet, and at the castle of Belem, 
which defends the entrance of the harbor, fifty feet 
higher than it had ever been known. Had it not sub- 
sided as suddenly, the whole city would have been sub- 
merged. A large new quay sank to an unfathomable 
depth with several hundreds of persons, not one of the 
bodies of whom was afterward found." "So powerful 
was the concussion, that it overthrew every church and 
convent in the city, together with the Royal Palace, and 
the magnificent Opera House adjoining it; in short, not 
any building of consequence escaped. About one-fourth 
of the dwelling houses were thrown down; and at a 
moderate computation, thirty thousand individuals per- 
ished." — Wonders of the World, page 50. On page 200 
we read : "The terror of the people was beyond descrip- 
tion. Nobody wept; it was beyond tears. They ran 
hither and thither, delirious with fear and astonishment, 
beating their faces and breasts, crying 'Misericordia;' the 
world is at an end." 

Sir Charles Lyell describes the scene of this earth- 
quake at length. From this account the following is 
quoted : 

"In no part of the volcanic region of southern Europe 
has so tremendous an earthquake occurred in modern 



Christ's Prophecy of His Second Advent 233 

times as that which began on the first of November, 1755, 
at Lisbon." — Library of Choice Literature. 

Other earthquakes had been very severe in their own 
localities but none had been so general and dreadful as 
this. This, therefore, was "the great earthquake" that 
was to mark the opening of the sixth seal. 

THE IMPORT OF THESE SIGNS 

Luke records the words of Christ which sum up the 
import of these signs as follows: 

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon 
and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, 
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of 
heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of 
man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look 
up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draw- 
eth nigh. And He spake to them a parable; Behold 
the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot 
forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer 
is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these 
things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God 
is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This genera- 
tion shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." Luke 
21:25-33. 

These signs are given for the purpose of teaching the 
last generation that the day of their redemption, which 
shall be ushered in by the second coming of Christ, is 
at hand. 

The present generation stands facing the end of the 
world, and the establishment of the kingdom of glory, 
with these signs testifying that it shall see the fulfill- 
ment of all that has been indicated by these signs, as 
surely as the Jews in the time of Christ saw the destruc- 



234 The Kingdom of God 

tion of Jerusalem, as indicated by the sign of the Roman 
army surrounding that city. 

As representatives of the generation who heard the be- 
ginning of Noah's warning of the coming flood, did not 
pass away until the flood came, and representatives of 
the generation of Israel who left Egyptian bondage, lived 
to enter the promised inheritance in the land of Canaan, 
so representatives of those who heard the beginning of 
the warning message based upon these and many other 
signs, shall not pass away until the second advent of 
Christ takes place. 

Fearful was the fate of those Jews who did not pre- 
pare for flight, according to the instruction of Christ, 
at the destruction of Jerusalem. More dreadful will be 
the result of a failure to prepare to meet the coming 
of the King of Glory, of which these signs in heaven 
and earth give warning. That event will as surely come 
before this generation shall pass, as did the destruction 
of Jerusalem in the generation to which the sign of the 
Roman army gave warning, or the deluge upon those who 
rejected the warning message in the days of Noah. Matt. 

24:1-3, 37- 

"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My word 
shall not pass away." 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Increased Light in the Time of the End 

A\7"E are living in an age of remarkable progress. On 
every hand there are evidences of the marvelous ad- 
vance in art, science, agriculture, mining, manufacture, 
and in that agent which brought them all together — 
transportation. 



One can scarcely look upon the world of life and ac- 
tivity about him to-day, without being profoundly im- 
pressed by the words of Dan. 12:4: "But thou, O 
Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to 
the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and 
knowledge shall be increased." In verse 6 the question 
is raised, How long till this time of the end? Verse 7 
replies: Until "a time, times, and an half," and verse 9 
concludes with: And "go thy way, Daniel: for the 
words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." 
In Chapter 11, verses 33, 34, this application is made 
again, and the overthrow of the Papacy is declared to 
mark the coming of the time of the end. This period 
is not the actual end of time, but a brief space preced- 
ing that event, preparatory to the coming of the end. 

But apart from the marvels of inventive and constuctive 
genius, science and discovery, upon which volumes might 
be written, yet which are known more or less by all, the 
most important theme of the prophecy is the unsealing 
of the book of Daniel, which has been sealed until the 

235 



236 The Kingdom of God 

time of the end. This would result in a great increase 
in Bible knowledge. 

A CENTURY OF BIBLE STUDY 

After 1798, when the time of the end was reached, 
we see a marked advance in Bible study. History pre- 
sents no parallel to the increase in the circulation of the 
Bible during the last century. In 1798 but one small 
Bible Society, called the Naval and Military Bible So- 
ciety, had been organized. 

The British and Foreign Bible Society was founded 
in London, on March 7, 1804. Its first year's expendi- 
ture was six hundred and nineteen pounds sterling. Its 
annual expenditure now is seventy thousand pounds. 
During the first century of its existence, it circulated 
more than one hundred and seventy-five million copies 
of the Bible, and is now sending out more than five mil- 
lion Bibles a year. 

In 1 81 3 the Russian Bible Society was founded. It 
was strongly supported by the influence of the Emperor 
Alexander I. 

The Prussian Central Bible Society was founded in 
1814. 

Five Bible Societies were organized in America in 
1 808-1 809. A number of others were formed later. In 
1 816 thirty-five of these met in New York City, and 
formed the American Bible Society. This Society has 
now fifteen hundred branches. During the quarter of 
a century closing with the year 1900, nine million one 
hundred twenty-six thousand, five hundred and fifteen 
Bibles were circulated by this Society. 

It is marvelous what a century of Bible circulation 
has wrought. A century ago infidelity was rampant. 
The Bible was chained to the desk, and kept from the 
people. How different to-day! What has wrought this 
great change? The hour has come when Bible knowl- 



Increased Light in the Time of the End 237 

edge was to be increased. We are living in the time of 
the end; beginning in 1798, when the gospel of the king- 
dom was to be proclaimed to all the world. As a prelude 
to that proclamation, the Bible must be scattered through- 
out the world. It is marvelous how at this very time, 
regardless of the prediction of Voltaire, that within a 
hundred years the Bible would be banished from the 
earth as a power and an influence among men, that a 
Bible depository now occupies the house in which Vol- 
taire then lived in Paris. 

Bible knowledge has increased in proportion to the 
freedom with which the book has been studied. As a re- 
sult of this circulation and study of the Bible, mission- 
ary societies have been organized to speedily carry the 
gospel to the world. All this is in perfect harmony 
with Daniel's prediction for the time of the end. 

A CENTURY OF MISSION OPERATIONS 

There has never been such an awakening for mission 
operations, such an organization of forces for the dis- 
semination of gospel light, as the past century reveals. 

Munseys Magazine for February, 19 14, reports that 
the British Bible Society issued 7,899,000 copies of Bibles 
and parts in 1913, of which 2,500,000 were sent to the 
Chinese Empire. 

Richard Baxter, author of "The Saint's Rest," died in 
169 1. He was deeply convicted that more should be 
done to missionize the heathen. But the hour had not 
yet come for the last great missionary movement that 
was to lighten the earth with the glory of God's final 
message. The idea of missions was supposed to be vision- 
ary and the church slept on while the heathen waited in 
darkness. 

It was a century later when W illiam Carey, burdened 
with the needs of a heathen world, talked his convic- 
tions to his associates and urged them before a religious 



238 The Kingdom of God 

convention until the word, "Young man, sit down," 
came from the presiding officer. But the hour had come 
for advance, and the work for missions would no longer 
sit down. 

In 1792 a foreign missionary society was organized, 
and the next year Carey and an associate sailed for 
India. Later, Morrison landed in China and Moffat 
and Livingstone in Africa. In 1795 the London Mis- 
sionary Society was organized. The Church of Eng- 
land organized a missionary society in 1799, and in 1800 
the first permanent missionary training-school was es- 
tablished. 

Thus the missionary campaign was begun. But it was 
not without difficulties that it was to march forward in 
compliance with the gospel commision to all the world. 

The late Dr. A. T. Pierson, speaking of the great 
contrast between those days and ours in mission work, 
says: 

"Most countries shut out Christian missions by or- 
ganized opposition, so that to attempt to bear the good 
tidings was simply to dare death for Christ's sake; the 
only welcome awaiting God's messengers was that of 
cannibal ovens, merciless prisons, or martyr graves. But, 
as the little band advanced, on every hand the walls of 
Jericho fell, and the iron gates opened of their own ac- 
cord. India, Siam, Burmah, China, Japan, Turkey, Af- 
rica, Mexico, South America, the Papal States, and 
Korea were successively and successfully entered. Within 
five years, from 1853 to 1858, new facilities were given 
to the entrance and occupation of seven different coun- 
tries, together embracing half the world's population." 

This is no common time in which we live. It is the 
climax of all the ages. "The Lord hath made bare His 
holy arm in the ej r es of all the nations; and all the ends 
of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." 



Increased Light in the Time of the End 239 



A CENTURY S MISSION 

The story of a century of foreign missionary achievement 
is full of inspiration for the future (remarks the Missionary 
Review of the World), as the following comparison of the 
state of affairs in 1810 and that in 1910 clearly shows: 



1 8 10. 

Nearly every country in 
Asia and Africa was closed to 
the gospel. 

The church did not believe 
in foreign missions. 



There were practically no 
Protestant Christians in heath- 
en lands. 



Only 100 foreign missiona- 
ries had been sent out. 

The Bible was translated 
into only sixty-five languages. 

Only a few thousand pounds 
were given yearly for foreign 
missions. 

There were no medical mis- 
sionaries. 



There were no mission hos- 
pitals or orphanages. 



There was no native Chris- 
tian ministry. 



1910. 

Practically every nation in 
the world is open to mission- 
aries. 

All evangelical churches are 
interested in missions. To 
speak against missions is 
counted a disgrace, and a sign 
of ignorance. 

More than two million Prot- 
estant Christians have been 
gathered in heathen lands, be- 
sides all who have died in the 
faith. 

There are nearly 25,000 for- 
eign missionaries in the world. 

The Bible has been trans- 
lated into about 500 languages 
and dialects. 

Total foreign missionary 
contributions amount to nearly 
$25,000,000 annually. 

Thousands of medical mis- 
sionaries in the heathen lands 
treat three million patients a 
year. 

There are 400 mission hos- 
pitals and over 500 orphan- 
ages and asylums in foreign 
lands, operated by missiona- 
ries. 

There are about 93,000 na- 
tive pastors, evangelists, etc., 
working among their own 
people. 



24-0 The Kingdom of God 



Missionary work was not There are nearly 30,000 

recognized in American and schools and colleges conduct- 
British colleges. ed by Protestant missionaries 

in foreign lands. 
There were no unmarried There are over 6,000 un- 

women missionaries, and no married women missionaries 
organized work for women. to heathen women and chil- 
dren. 
There were no mission There are over 160 publish- 

presses or agencies for pre- ing houses and mission press- 
paring and distributing Chris- es, and 400 Christian period- 
tian literature in nonchristian icals are published on the mis- 
lands, sion fields. Thousands of col- 
lege students are on the mis- 
sion field, and thousands are 
preparing to go. 



THE PROPHECY UNSEALED 

With this increase of Bible knowledge the prophetic 
word of God is also unsealed, and its applications made 
plain. The angel of Revelation now stands presenting 
the little book of Daniel's prophecy open, which till the 
time of the end was closed and sealed; and the angel of 
Rev. 14:9-14, commissioned to announce the last call of 
the everlasting gospel, declares: "The hour of His judg- 
ment is come," and presents the commandments of God 
and the faith of Jesus as the standard of preparation for 
the judgment. 

Scientists and men of commerce may think that all 
modern inventions are for their special benefit, but God 
has a higher purpose for them to serve. He has de- 
clared in Matt. 24:14, that when we reach the time of 
the end, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then 
shall the end come." Into this service He will call the 
printing-press, telephone, cable, wireless telegraphy, the 
express train, fast mail, great ocean liners, flying ma- 
chines, and all the rapid methods of communicating 



Increased Light in the Time of the End 241 

thought. With what marvelous rapidity can this work 
be finished, when, as upon the day of Pentecost, He gives 
to all the final touch of mighty power! What facilities 
He who personally conducts His work, has provided in 
our day for its completion ! The possibility of the Gos- 
pel proclamation Tn all the world in one generation sur- 
passes all previous historical record. "The time of the 
end" has come. "Many run to and fro." Knowledge is 
increased. The prophecy is unsealed and understood. 
The Gospel is being carried to every nation, kindred, 
tongue and people. Its mission to all the world will 
soon be over, and then shall the end come. The great 
day of God is near and hasteth greatly. Are we ready 
for it? 



"The work that centuries might have done 
Must crowd the hour of setting sun, 
And through all lands the saving name 
Ye must in fervent haste proclaim. 

"We hear His footsteps on the way! 
Oh, work while it is called to-day! 
Constrained by love, endued with power, 
O children, in this last, last hour!" 



PART IX 

THE LAST STRUGGLES BETWEEN RIGHT AND 
WRONG 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

The Judgment Announced 

'Tp HE proclamation of the judgment message is one of 
a series of three messages brought to view in Revela- 
tion 14. They are to have their application just prior 
to the second advent of Christ. This is made clear by 
the statement of verses 14-16. "And I looked, and be- 
hold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto 
the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and 
in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came 
out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that 
sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for 
the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of 
the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust 
in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." 

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that 
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, 
and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear 
God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judg- 
ment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and 
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 
14:6, 7. 

In Matt. 13:39 Christ defines the word harvest thus: 
242 



The Judgment Announced 243 

"The harvest is the end of the world." This series of 
messages must, therefore, go to all nations just before 
the end of the world. This is emphasized by the state- 
ment of the Revelator, verse 7. "The hour of His 
judgment is come." It could not have applied to apos- 
tolic times, for Paul reasoned of righteousness, temper- 
ance, "and a judgment to come." He did not declare 
that the judgment was then proceeding, but that it was 
still in the future. Daniel presents it as the last act 
before Christ receives His kingdom, and returns in 
majesty and glory to gather the saints. "I beheld till 
the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did 
sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of 
His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the 
fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery 
stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand 
thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times 
ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set 
and the books were opened. I saw in the night visions, 
and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the 
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
they brought Him near before Him. And there was 
given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that 
all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: 
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not 
pass aw T ay, and His kingdom that which shall not be 
destroyed." Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14. This is confirmed 
by Rev. 22:11, 12. "He that is unjust, let him be un- 
just still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: 
and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and 
he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I 
come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every 
man according as his work shall be." 

The second coming of Christ is here placed immedi- 
ately after the close of the judgment. Much other evi- 
dence might be adduced in proof of these messages apply- 
ing just before the second coming of Christ, but the 



244 The Kingdom of God 

above is sufficient for this brief study, since the state- 
ments are plain and positive. 

The parables of Matt. 22:1-4 and Luke 14:16-24 re- 
fer to the same three messages, and fix the time at the 
close of the day in the three calls to supper. The din- 
ner call to the Jews given at midday by Christ and 
His apostles had been refused. The three calls at the 
close of the gospel day complete the history, and bring 
the second coming of Christ. 

Having considered the time when these messages are 
to have their application, we will next study the mes- 
sages themselves. Since John had previously spoken of 
an angel with the woe trumpets flying in the midst of 
heaven (Rev. 8:13), he calls this "another angel." It 
is called the first angel, because it is the first of a series 
of three, brought to view in Rev. 14:6-12. No ordi- 
nary preaching of the gospel could fulfill this prophecy, 
for here is a movement that must go speedily to "every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with 
a loud voice, Fear God A and give glory to Him; for the 
hour of His judgment is come." When this message is 
fulfilled, the world must hear such an announcement 
given in good faith. 

A PROPHETIC TIME MESSAGE 

"And I saw another mighty angel come down from 
heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon 
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his 
feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little 
book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and 
his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, 
as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven 
thunders uttered their voices." Rev. 10:1-3. Here a 
mighty angel with his right foot upon the sea, and his 
left foot upon the land, makes a proclamation based 
upon a little book open. The statement that he has 



The Judgment Announced 245 

in his hand a little book open, indicates that the little 
book, which he used as the basis of his proclamation, 
had been once closed, or sealed, but is now open. This 
is true of the little book of Daniel's prophecy, to which 
reference is here evidently made. The statement reads: 
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the 
book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to 
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And he 
said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up 
and sealed till the time of the end." Dan. 12:4, 9. 

The book open in the hand of the angel deals with 
time. "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea 
and upon the earth lifted up his hand to , heaven, and 
sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who cre- 
ated heaven, and the things that therein are, and the 
earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and 
the things which are therein, that there should be time 
no longer." Rev. 10:4, 5. The book of Daniel like- 
wise deals with periods of prophetic time. "And they 
shall be given into his hand until a time and times and 
the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25, last part. "And he 
said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred 
days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14. 

The proclamation of the angel of Rev. 10:6, "that 
there should be time no longer," refers to the kind of 
time which he found in the little book of Daniel, which 
he held in his hand open, viz., prophetic time. The long- 
est prophetic period given in that book is the 2300 day 
period, beginning in 457 b. c. and closing in 1844 A. D., 
as we have seen in a previous chapter. When the proph- 
ecy of chapter 10 is fulfilled, the world must hear the 
announcement "that there shall be time no longer." 
Nothing less than this will fulfill the prophecy. Based 
upon this prophetic time period, it must be decidedly an- 
nounced that "The hour of His judgment is come," in 
fulfillment of Rev. 14:7. Both these announcements 
were definitely made by the proclamation of the great 



246 The Kingdom of God 

advent movement of 1840-44. This movement was to 
be world-wide; it was to go to land and sea as repre- 
sented in chapter 10, by the angel standing with one 
foot on the sea, and the other foot upon the land; it 
was to bear a message to "every nation, and kindred, and 
tongue, and people," as predicted in Rev. 14:6, 7. 

A WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT 

The fact that both these announcements were made, 
and that the proclamation was world-wide in the advent 
movement of 1840-44, is well known. John the Bap- 
tist had a special mission, announced in prophecy. He 
knew that he was the forerunner of Christ at the time 
of His first advent. He said: "I am the voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the 
Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." John 1 123. If then, 
as is here suggested in the prophecy, the great advent 
movement of 1840-44 fulfilled the prediction, the man 
who carried the message, like John the Baptist, should 
have known that they were commissioned by these proph- 
ecies to make the proclamation which they gave to the 
world at that time. Let Sylvester Bliss, an ardent be- 
liever in that movement, inform us on this point: 

"As an indication of the approach of the end, there 
was, however, to be seen another angel flying through 
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to 
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Rev. 14:6. 
The burden of this angel was to be the same gospel that 
had before been proclaimed; but connected with it was 
the additional impetus of the proximity of the kingdom — 
'saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to 
Him: for the hour of His judgment is come; and wor- 
ship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and 
the fountains of waters.' Verse 7. No mere preaching 
of the gospel, without announcing its proximity could 



The Judgment Announced 247 

fulfill this message." — Advent Herald, Dec. 14, 1850. 

The Advent movement of 1840-44 dealt in a very 
definite manner with these questions. Neither was that 
work done in a corner. In America William Miller 
and about three thousand associate ministers traveled and 
proclaimed the message; while in England Dr. Joseph 
Wolfe and about seven hundred ministers of the Church 
of England proclaimed the message. Between the years 
1 82 1 and 1845, Joseph Wolfe, D. D., according to his 
journals, proclaimed the Lord's speedy advent in Pal- 
estine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, 
the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman 
Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkestan, Bokhara, Af- 
ghanistan, Cashmir, Hindoostan, Thibet, in Holland, 
Scotland, Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. 
Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, at New 
York City, to all denominations. He declares he has 
preached among "Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, 
Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yescedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to 
Pashas, Sheiks, Shas, the kings of Organtsh and Bok- 
hara, the Queen of Greece, etc." — The Voice of the 
Church, by D. T. Taylor, page 343. 

This movement came at the right time, and did its 
work in the right manner. No other movement has ever 
arisen that has fulfilled the specification of these proph- 
ecies. The men engaged in the advent movement of 
1840 to 1844 announced fearlessly that their work was 
in fulfillment of these prophecies. It is therefore very 
evident that the advent movement was in fulfillment of 
the mighty judgment message which is here called the 
first angel's announcement. 

The fact that in the cleansing of the heavenly sanctu- 
ary, beginning in 1844 A. d., the work of the investi- 
gative judgment was begun, confirms this view. Since 
that work began at that time, at no earlier or later period 
would the proclamation that "the hour of His judgment 
is come," be due to the world. In the type the day of 



248 The Kingdom of God 

atonement, which was the day of judgment, and the day 
of cleansing the earthly sanctuary, was preceded ten 
days before by a day of blowing of trumpets announcing 
the coming of the typical day of judgment or atonement. 
The great advent movement of 1840 to 1844 was the 
antitype of that day of blowing of trumpets. It sounded 
the warning, that in 1844, on the tenth day of the sev- 
enth month, Christ would enter upon the work of cleans- 
ing the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary by 
the work of judgment and atonement. Here very ex- 
plicitly the type met its antitype, both in the advent 
movement and in the work of cleansing the heavenly sanc- 
tuary at the close of the 2300 days, which ended in 1844. 

THE DISAPPOINTMENT FORETOLD 

Is it not a fact that those who gave this advent proc- 
lamation were disappointed in 1844? Yes. Is that 
sufficient reason for rejecting that movement, as not 
being of God? No. The Jewish people were disap- 
pointed when, at the close of the ministry of John the 
Baptist, Christ did not appear in glory and majesty as 
King of kings and Lord of lords. Was that sufficient 
reason for rejecting the work of John the Baptist, as 
being not of God? The disciples of Christ were disap- 
pointed when, after they had joined the Messiah in pro- 
claiming the kingdom of God at hand, Christ did not 
at that time restore the kingdom to Israel. See Acts 1. 
Was that sufficient reason for rejecting the Messiahship 
of Christ? If bitter disappointment had not followed 
the proclamation of the advent movement of 1840 to 
1844, that movement would not have fulfilled the proph- 
ecy. "And the voice which I heard from heaven spake 
unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book 
which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth 
upon the sea and upon the land. And I went unto the 
angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And 



The Judgment Announced 249 

he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up ; and it shall make 
thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as 
honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's 
hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as 
honey : but as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter." 
Rev. 10:8-10. To eat a book means to feed mentally 
upon its contents. See Ezek. 3:1-3. The very fact that 
those who proclaimed that the hour of God's judgment 
had come, and that "there shall be time no longer," in 
1844 were bitterly disappointed, is the climax of the 
evidence given in the prophecy, that that movement was 
of God. Their bitter disappointment, like that of the 
disciples in the days of Christ, lay in their expecting 
all to be fulfilled too soon. The time period ended, 
as they declared it did, in 1844. The longest prophetic 
period given in the little book of Daniel, upon which 
they based their utterance, ended there. In that they 
were correct. The work of cleansing the sanctuary there 
began by Christ entering upon the work of judgment and 
atonement. In these essential features of the message 
they were correct. But they were in error in supposing 
that the work of investigating judgment would be per- 
formed in so short a time, and that the coming of Christ 
would take place on that day. This arose from their 
belief in the popular view that the earth was the sanctu- 
ary, and that its cleansing w^ould be by fire on that day. 

ANOTHER MESSAGE PREDICTED 

A more thorough study of the sanctuary and its cleans- 
ing soon brought to light their error, and started two 
other messages, explaining the sanctuary and its cleansing 
and proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith 
of Jesus, as given in the third angel's message of Rev. 
14:9-12. This was fully predicted in the very chapter 
upon which they based their proclamation, but they did 
not see it then. "And there followed another angel, 



250 The Kingdom of God 

saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, be- 
cause she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 
of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, 
saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast 
and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in 
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the 
cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with 
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 
in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their 
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have 
no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his 
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that 
keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
Rev. 14:8-12. This disappointment was therefore a part 
of the prophetic announcement that was to apply to the 
movement that should fulfill the prophecy, and it further 
announced other messages to follow it. "And he said 
unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, 
and nations, and tongues, and kings." Rev. 10:11. 

Thus the Lord, knowing the disappointment that the 
proclamation that the hour of His judgment began in 
1844, so ordered the prophecy that the very disappoint- 
ment would be a strong evidence that the great advent 
movement of 1840 to 1844 fulfilled the prophecy in 
declaring that definite prophetic time ceased in 1844, 
and that then the hour of God's judgment began in 
heaven. 

The prophetic period presented under the first angel's 
message was not to reach to the coming of the Lord, 
but to the judgment. The judgment began at that time. 
The first angel's message was fulfilled in the great ad- 
vent movement that gave the announcement to the world. 
"The hour of His judgment is come" in the courts above. 
Reader, are you ready for the decision of your case? 
Soon all will be decided. "Prepare to meet thy God." 



CHAPTER XXIX 

The Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 

Z^ 1 OD has not ceased to be a God of love when He 
^^ executes judgment during the seven last plagues. He 
is not then merely dealing with impenitent sinners, but 
with sin as it stands related to His universe, as well as 
to the sinner. He declares this visitation to be "His 
work, His strange work; . . . His act, His strange act." 
Isa. 28:21. It follows the work of investigative judg- 
ment. "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and right- 
eousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away 
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hid- 
ing place." Verse 17. As Satan's confinement for a 
thousand years before his final execution will be the 
beginning of the executive judgment upon him, so the 
visitation of God's wrath in the seven last plagues will be 
the beginning of executive judgment upon the impenitent 
of the last generation. 

Like the judgment that was announced at the time of 
the Flood, and the destruction of the cities of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, there is no mercy mingled with this visi- 
tation. It is called "The unmingled wine of the wrath 
of God." It is not wholly different in this case from 
other recorded cases. In the case of Nineveh, the an- 
nouncement was made of the overthrow of that city on 
account of its wickedness. Even the fiat was sent forth by 
the Lord that within forty days that city should be 
overthrown. Had the people waited in impenitence un- 
til the end of the forty days, there would have been no 
mercy mingled with the execution of the decree "Yet 

251 



252 The Kingdom of God 

forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But they 
repented before the time for the execution of the judg- 
ment. They were aroused by the announcement that 
God was about to execute His judgment upon the wicked 
inhabitants of their city. Their repentance was uni- 
versal, and there were no wicked inhabitants upon whom 
the judgment could be executed when the time came; 
the Lord therefore did not send the destruction as an- 
nounced. 

In like manner the Lord is now sending to all the 
world the announcement that He is soon to visit the 
world with the seven last plagues. He says that when 
the plagues come, there will be no mercy mingled with 
them. There is mercy in the announcement now being 
given, so that all who desire may repent and escape, 
as in the case of Nineveh. If the whole world would 
repent under the present announcement, as did the Nine- 
vites in the days of Jonah, there would be no need for 
this visitation. 

How would this affect the prediction of the word of 
God? Just as it did in the days of Jonah: it would con- 
firm it, for all these predictions give ample time for re- 
pentance before the visitation. The Lord through Jere- 
miah informs us that "At what instant I shall speak con- 
cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, 
and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against 
whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will re- 
pent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." Jer. 
18:7, 8. God's wrath is not man's. His anger is not a 
passion, but a righteous indignation against all injustice, 
oppression, and sin. 

It rests, therefore, wholly with man, whether he will 
receive divine protection or the seven last plagues. God's 
merciful announcement is His call to man to prepare, 
by repentance, to escape them. 

The seven last plagues fall after Christ's work of 
judgment is finished in the temple, or sanctuary, in heaven. 



Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 253 

Rev. 15:4-8. He does not cease His work of atonement, 
because He would no longer receive sinners, if they 
would come, but because every sinner who can be in- 
duced to accept pardon has obtained forgiveness. The 
others are joined in their idols, and can not be awakened. 
Amos 8:9-14. 

As the plagues of Egypt fell upon hardened Pharaoh, 
and he refused to surrender his heart to God under the 
mighty judgments, which he and his associates were com- 
pelled to admit were from God (Ex. 8:19), so will 
those who have become callous to the appeals of the Holy 
Spirit refuse to yield to the call to repentance before 
the plagues fall. Rev. 16:9-11. 

THE FIRST PLAGUE 

The record of the pouring out of the seven last plagues 
is given in Revelation 16. The first plague falls upon 
those who have rejected the warning message of Rev. 
14:9-12. "And I heard a great voice out of the temple 
saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out 
the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the 
first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and 
there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men 
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which 
worshiped his image." Rev. 16:1, 2. 

THE SECOND AND THIRD PLAGUES 

The second and third plagues fall upon the sea and 
fountains of waters, which are turned into blood, and be- 
come "as the blood of a dead man." Rev. 16:3, 4. 

These judgments do not come without cause. An 
angel explains the reason of their coming. "And I heard 
the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, 
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast 
judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and 



254 The Kingdom of God 

prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for 
they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar 
say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous 
are Thy judgments." Verses 5-7. 

The beast and his image have been persecuting powers. 
God's visitation upon them is in exact justice. It indi- 
cates His wrath against all force in religious matters. 
How sad that any should be so blind as not to accept 
the warning He so kindly sends to spare them the awful 
experience of losing the promised inheritance and re- 
ceiving these terrible plagues. 

With the people of God it will be different. 
While the plagues are falling, they will find protection 
and shelter. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of 
the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Al- 
mighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and 
my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He 
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from 
the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His 
feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His 
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not 
be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow 
that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh 
in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon- 
day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand 
at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only 
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward 
of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which 
is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there 
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come 
nigh thy dwelling." Ps. 91 :i-io. While those who 
are worshipers of the beast are receiving the plague that 
causes all fountains of water and all rivers to be un- 
drinkable, of those who have sought refuge in Christ it 
is said: "Bread shall be given him; his water shall be 
sure." Isa. 33: 16. 



Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 255 



THE FOURTH PLAGUE 

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the 
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with 
fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blas- 
phemed the name of God, which hath power over these 
plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory." 
After the sea becomes blood, comes the plague in the 
sun that scorches men with fervent heat. There is no 
water to drink. They must now drink blood or endure 
the terrible agony of thirst that follows. There is curs- 
ing, but no repentance. Those who have been so willing 
to inflict penalties to enforce religious profession now have 
most terrible experiences under penalties which are the 
results of their transgression. 

THE FIFTH PLAGUE 

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat 
of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and 
they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the 
God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, 
and repented not of their deeds." Added to the fearful 
heat and thirst, with noisome sores causing them to gnaw 
their tongues for pain, the seat of the beast is filled with 
a plague of darkness. There is no repentance during the 
plagues. The sweet spirit which has so long said "Come," 
no longer woos to repentance. - Not that God has changed, 
but man has made his final choice, and decided his des- 
tiny for eternity. This is confirmed by the statement 
in Amos 8:11-14: 

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I 
will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, 
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the 
Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from 



256 The Kingdom of God 

the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to 
seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In 
that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for 
thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, 
Thy God, O Dan, liveth ; and, Thy manner of Beersheba 
liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again." 

Why is it that these young people who are so intent 
on finding the word of life, that they wander from sea 
to sea in search of it, can not find it? God is "the same 
yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Has he not always 
forgiven a genuinely penitent sinner who came to Him? 
Yes, but those who seek Him then have rendered 
their final decision in that matter. They are still 
determined to swear by the sin of Samaria, and the 
manner of Beersheba. They have sworn their everlast- 
ing allegiance to that form of worship. Hence there can 
be no real repentance and loyal allegiance to God. Why 
then do they seek the word of the Lord? They are 
in distress, as was Pharaoh, when he pretended to re- 
pent. He was not accepted and forgiven, because he 
had made his choice of another than God, to whom he 
had decided to render his heartfelt devotion. Under 
pain he would call for mercy, as do those who are wan- 
dering in search of the word of God. The Lord makes 
the positive statement that "They repented not of their 
deeds." Genuine penitents turn from evil deeds. 

Now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of 
salvation. Those who would not in the days of Christ 
believe Moses and the prophets, would not believe though 
one rose from the dead. The God who has charge of the 
message and of the plagues is a God of love. The an- 
nouncement of the coming plagues is love's last effort to 
arouse an apostate world to repentance. 

After the last invitation of the message has been fully 
proclaimed and refused or accepted by every soul, the 
work of human probation closes. "The Lord is not 
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slack- 



Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 257 

ness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 
2 Peter 3 :g. This text reveals God's love in the closing 
days of human probation. Unwilling that any should 
perish, He delays with longsuffering, awaiting the re- 
pentance of every soul that can be won by the gospel. 
He knows when the last one that can be induced to ac- 
cept of pardon has turned to God with repentance. 
Then the gospel work closes and the plagues are poured 
out. The work does not close because there comes a 
time when God is unwilling to grant repentance, but 
because the last one who can be induced to repent has 
come to Christ. Then the work of Christ ceases in the 
heavenly sanctuary, and the plagues are poured out. 
Then Christ performs His work, His strange work of 
leaving the world during the plagues without a medi- 
ator between man and God. It is man's choice, not 
God's, that leaves man thus without a mediator, and 
without hope to suffer and die. If men could only see 
this while Christ pleads for them, and God waits, not 
willing that any should perish, and repent, all might 
be saved. 

THE SIXTH PLAGUE 

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the 
great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried 
up, that the way of the kings of the east might be pre- 
pared." The river Euphrates upon which this vial is 
poured out, runs through the Turkish Empire. This 
river is evidently designed to represent the territory 
through which the river passes. 

How will the way of the kings of the East be pre- 
pared by the removal or drying up of the Ottoman Em- 
pire along the Euphrates? The following verses show 
that the object of the drying up of the river is the gath- 
ering of the nations for the battle of Armageddon. That 



258 The Kingdom of God 

battle is to be fought near Jerusalem. Joel 3:11-16; 
Dan. 11:45. 

Spiritualism, which is to act a part in this gathering 
of the nations for the battle of Armageddon, is now in 
the field throughout the world doing its initial work in 
preparation for that mighty struggle, when all nations 
shall gather in final conflict, under the sixth plague. 
Rev. 16:13-16. 

THE SEVENTH PLAGUE 

Then comes the seventh plague, with which the scene 
of the coming of Christ is ushered in. "And the sev- 
enth angel poured out his vial into the air; and there 
came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from 
the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, 
and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great 
earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the 
earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the 
great city was divided into three parts, and the cities 
of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remem- 
brance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of 
the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, 
and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon 
men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the 
weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because 
of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was 
exceeding great." 

Under this plague the great city, mystery Babylon, 
is dealt with in three parts. These three parts embrace 
the great apostasy in all parts of the world, — Paganism, 
the Papacy and apostate Protestantism. In this last 
plague God manifests His sore displeasure against this 
threefold apostasy, which has wrought such ruin in the 
world by its spiritual anarchy against God and His 
light and truth, by which He sought to bring the people 
to true repentance and save the lost. "And great Baby- 



Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 259 

Ion came in remembrance before God to give unto her 
the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." A 
brief review of the final apostasy of this great Babylon 
is given in Revelation, chapters 17 and 18. God's final 
call "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers 
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues," is also 
given. In Revelation 19 the last mighty conflict is present- 
ed and the real parties to the engagement are made mani- 
fest. Then the closing view presents the conflict ended. 
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their 
armies, gathered together to make war against Him that 
sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the 
beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that 
wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived 
them that had received the mark of the beast, and them 
that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive 
into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rem- 
nant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon 
the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: 
and all the fowls w T ere filled with their flesh." Rev. 
19:19-21. 

Thus closes the history of the awful plagues, which 
await those who reject the last message of warning to 
the world, and become part of earth's last great apos- 
tasy. How tenderly the Master pleads in Rev. 3:18 
for His people to anoint their eyes with the eyesalve of 
faith and love, that they may see! How He exhorts 
them to repent and secure the white raiment, which is 
the righteousness of saints, in preparation for the com- 
ing day of judgment! How He urges that He be ad- 
mitted into the heart, that it may be purified and cleansed' 
by His presence! But alas, many will slumber on un- 
heeding, until that day breaks upon them as a thief in the 
night. What more could a loving God have done to 
arouse a lukewarm church and awaken a slumbering 
world than He has done? The announcement of the 
coming of the seven last plagues is the last appeal of 



260 The Kingdom of God 

infinite love to arouse the slumbering world, before "the 
summer is ended, the harvest is past," and it is unsaved. 

The cities of the plains were warned of coming de-> 
strution, but, Christ says: "They did eat, they drank, 
they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but 
the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire 
and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man 
is revealed." Luke 17:28-30. 

This is a sad commentary on the worldly spirit of the 
last days. As a message of warning of impending de- 
struction awaiting the cities of the plains was given then, 
so there will be a message of warning of the impending 
doom of those who pursue their usual vocations unheed- 
ing until the unmingled wine of God's wrath against 
sin and oppression, breaks upon the shelterless heads of 
the careless and the unheeding. 

The Master with the deepest feelings of pity and with 
unutterable longing to arouse and save those who are 
standing under the shadow of the most awful judgments 
that have ever visited any people, presents still another 
appeal. He says of the last days of human history: "As 
it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days 
of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they 
married wives, they were given in marriage, until the 
day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came 
and destroyed them all." Luke 17:26, 27. 

Dear reader, these solemn appeals from the Man of 
Calvary, Who died to redeem us, are not a mistaken 
view of our danger. He Who made the world and 
died for our redemption is fully aware of the time 
when we are to reach the climax of the controversy of 
the ages. He knows full well the nature of the last 
merciful call to repentance to dying men, before the 
awful storm of divine wrath shall fall upon the im- 
penitent. We may excuse ourselves with the false hope 
that there is no danger, and go on with our worldly 



Seven Last Plagues Fall Upon the Disloyal 261 

plans unheeding. They did that in the days of Noah 
and Lot, but that did not save them. There were but 
few who were willing to break with the w T orldly spirit 
of those times and seek a refuge from the coming judg- 
ments; but that few were saved when the judgments 
swept the indifferent to destruction. 

Christ says as it was then, so it will be in the last 
days. Because He is not willing that any should perish, 
He so earnestly entreats that the terrible mistakes of 
past generations shall warn us. See Him weeping over 
Jerusalem as He announces the judgments that awaited 
that people in a. d. 70. He points them to their only 
hope of escape and pleads that they heed the warnings 
and live. A few did believe, and were saved, but the 
mass of that people met a most horrible fate. The 
Master cites the judgments of the past as illustrations 
of our danger. His message bearing the commandments 
of God and the faith of Jesus, is His ark of safety to- 
day. A few lingering moments remain in which to seek 
a refuge in the ark which shall be our shield and buck- 
ler when the plagues fall which will sweep into oblivion 
the vain refuge of lies. Ps. 91 14. 



CHAPTER XXX 

Satan Bound a Thousand Years 

AND I saw an angel come down from heaven, having 
*^the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in 
his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old 
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him 
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, 
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should 
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years 
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a 
little season." Rev. 20:1-3. 

According to the "Englishman's Greek Concordance" 
this expression, "bottomless pit," is a translation of the 
Greek word, abussos, which is found nine times in the 
New Testament; and, in the Authorized Version it is 
translated : 

"The deep," twice, Luke 8:31; Rom. 10:7. 

"The bottomless pit," seven times. Rev. 8:1, 2, 11; 
11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3. 

In Rotherham's translation abussos is rendered: 

"The shaft of the abyss," twice. Rev. 9:1, 2, and — 

"The abyss," seven times. Luke 8:31; Rom. 10:7; 
Rev. 9:11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3. 

In the Emphatic Diaglott Interlinear translation, 
abussos is translated : 

"The pit of the deep," twice. Rev. 9:1, 2. 

"The abyss," three times. Luke 8:31; Rom. 10:7; 
Rev. 17:8, and — 

"The deep," four times. Rev. 9:11; 11:7; 20 :i, 3. 

In the Revised Version it is rendered : 

"The pit of the abyss," twice. Rev. 9:1, 2. 
262 



Satan Bound a Thousand Years 263 



OTHER REMARKS 

" 'Bottomless pit,' rather, 'the pit of the abyss.' 
'Bottomless pit' gives an erroneous idea; the true no- 
tion being that of an inner prison (pit) in the great 
depth (abyss) ; or, as Milton expresses it, 'in the lowest 
deep, a lower deep' (Webster and Wilkinson)." — Mat- 
thew Henry's Notes on Rev. g:i. 

The term millennium is commonly applied to this 
period. It is not a Bible word, but by popular usage it 
has become connected with this period of the binding 
of Satan. It comes from two Latin words, millia, 
thousand and annus, a year. 

During this period the work of deception which Satan 
has practised upon the nations of earth is prohibited by a 
chain of circumstances. This is a very common expres- 
sion. The great Napoleon by his genius and ambition 
became a menace to the stability and the peace of Europe, 
but was finally banished to the Island of St. Helena, 
where he was confined until his death. In speaking of 
his confinement it is sometimes said that he was chained 
to the rocks of St. Helena. In this case we have a 
faint illustration of God's dealings with Satan on ac- 
count of his ambition which leads him to become a men- 
ace to the peace and harmony of the universe. 

Through Spiritualism Satan had deceived the nations 
into a frenzy of war that culminated in the battle of 
Armageddon. After this masterpiece of his success in 
leading the nations to forsake the principles of the Prince 
of peace, he is banished from the field and given a 
thousand years of solitary confinement, before the judg- 
ment day pronounces his final doom and he is brought 
forth from his prison for execution. During this time, 
the saints reign with Christ. 

This scene is both dramatic and pathetic. Here stands 
one who was once honored in heaven as the highest 



264 The Kingdom of God 

among the angels. Now a mighty angel comes down from 
heaven and binds him with a great chain, casts him into 
the bottomless pit, shuts him up and sets a seal upon him. 
The seal is the evidence of the authority by which the 
angel imprisons Satan for a thousand years. The chain 
of circumstances cuts off every avenue of opportunity- 
for him to practise his work of deception for a thousand 
years. The "bottomless pit" is the same in the original 
as "the deep" in Gen. 1 :2. It refers to the earth in 
the chaotic state in which it was found in the beginning 
before its preparation for the habitation of man. 

THE WORLD'S CONVERSION 

What chain of circumstances brings this state of the 
earth back again, and confines Satan and his angels under 
such conditions? In answer to this question two views 
are held. One is that the gospel will be presented to and 
received by the whole world, every living person being 
converted, and so fortified against the temptations of 
Satan that they will live and reign with Christ a thou- 
sand years. There is a very serious objection to this 
view. 

At the end of this period, Satan will be loosed and go 
forth and deceive all that are upon the earth, and they 
will go down with him in destruction. This would be 
a very unhappy termination of a thousand years' reign 
with Christ. If the doctrine is correct, the conclusion 
is inevitable. The saints who have reigned with Christ 
a thousand years, according to that view, will be de- 
ceived and lost at last. This is too inconsistent to re- 
ceive serious consideration. It requires the conversion 
of every religionist and all heathen to Christianity. On 
this point, under the title of "A Delusive Dream," the 
Northwestern Christian Advocate of Dec. 2, 1885, gives 
the following from Bishop Foster before a Methodist as- 
sembly. 

"There are some who too fondly anticipate a millen- 



Satan Bound a Thousand Years 265 

nfum. There is a lack of information on the progress of 
Christianity. The facts are misstated daily in pulpits 
all over the country. Ministers hesitate to present the 
worst side for fear of causing discouragement, and they 
create hopes that are never realized. We are not at the 
dawn of a millennium. Compared with the work to be 
done, the past is nothing. Our children's children for 
ten generations to come must labor harder than we are 
doing to accomplish the conversion of the world. The 
world's population is 1,500,000,000. Of these, Chris- 
tians number less than a third. 

"These Protestants number 113,000,000. They are 
divided into 500 sects, and the number of their strength 
includes, also, all the thieves, ex-convicts, the debased, 
besotted, the speckled and the ringstraked in Christen- 
dom. 

"The popular idea is that the Church of Rome is anti- 
christ. I don't agree with the popular belief. I regard 
that institution as a great Christian camp. It may have 
to be reconstructed ; but before us we have the great prob- 
lem — the 1,100,000,000 of pagans to convert to Chris- 
tianity. That is the solid rock that looms up in our 
pathway. Look at it; see what work has been done in 
1800 years, and how much is yet to be accomplished. In 
India, after more than a hundred years of mission work, 
we have 600,000 native converts and 2,000,000 Chris- 
tians among 260,000,000 heathen. Can we remove that 
solid boulder that is as old as the hills?" 

The improbabilities and inconsistencies attending the 
application of the view of a millennium before the sec- 
ond advent of Christ are such that we are forced to con- 
clude it inconsistent with a truthful exposition of this 
passage. 

ANOTHER VIEW 

The chain of circumstances by which Satan is bound 
during the thousand years is one that opens that period 
by the resurrection of the righteous, and closes it with the 



266 The Kingdom of God 

resurrection of the wicked. We read in verse 4: "I saw 
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of 
Jesus, and for the word of God," "and they lived and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years." After they had 
been beheaded, they could not live and reign with Christ 
without a resurrection. This is implied in verse 5 by the 
statement: "But the rest of the dead lived not again un- 
til the thousand years were finished. This is the first 
resurrection," and it is emphatically stated in verse 6, 
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur- 
rection : on such the second death hath no power, but they 
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
Him a thousand years." The righteous dead are there- 
fore taken from their graves to reign with Christ. 

Paul thus explains the manner of this resurrection, and 
the translation of the living righteous at the same time 
from the earth to heaven to enter upon the thousand 
years' reign with Christ: "But I would not have you to 
be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, 
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even 
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the 
Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the com- 
ing of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump 
of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we 
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together 
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:13-17. 
Christ speaks of the same event in these words: "Let 
not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe 
also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: 
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to pre- 
pare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place 
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; 
that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3. 



Satan Bound a Thousand Years 267 



THE THOUSAND YEARS BEGIN AND END WITH A RESUR- 
RECTION 

The first link in the chain is the resurrection of the 
righteous dead; the second link is the translation from 
earth to heaven of both the resurrected and living right- 
eous. The third link is the desolation of the earth and 
the destruction of the wicked at Christ's second advent. 
The righteous then enter upon a thousand years' reign 
in the mansions of the heavenly Jerusalem. 

At the same time the earth is desolated by the second 
coming of Christ to raise the righteous dead. Jeremiah 
says: "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, 
and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I 
beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the 
hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, 
and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, 
lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities 
thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, 
and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, 
The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a 
full end." Jer. 4:23-27. 

At Christ's second coming every city is broken down, 
and every wicked man destroyed. The earth becomes a 
desolate wilderness, or bottomless pit. So complete is this 
destruction, that Jeremiah says in chapter 25, 33rd verse: 
"The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end 
of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they 
shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried: they 
shall be dung upon the ground." Why are they not 
buried? "There was no man." There was not left a 
wicked man alive on the earth. Thus the destruction of 
all the living wicked and the desolation of the earth at 
the time of the resurrection of the dead and the transla- 
tion of the living righteous to heaven, form the links in 
the chain that bind Satan a thousand years. With the 
righteous in heaven and the wicked all dead for a thou- 
sand years, Satan is thus completely bound. 



268 The Kingdom of God 



SATAN LOOSED 

How is he to be loosed? 

Returning to Rev. 20:5, we read: "But the rest of 
the dead lived not again until the thousand years were 
finished. This is the first resurrection." The rest of the 
dead here referred to, are the wicked dead. The right- 
eous dead have already been raised and have been reign- 
ing with Christ in heaven for a thousand years. The 
wicked remain dead and are neither gathered nor buried 
during the thousand years. Satan is cast into the earth 
thus desolate, and confined there, and not permitted to 
leave it to visit any other world. He is chained by cir- 
cumstances beyond his control which confine him to this 
earth, bound by the removal of the righteous to heaven 
and the destruction of the wicked. He is loosed by the 
camp of the saints returning to the earth and the resurrec- 
tion of the wicked at the close of the thousand years. 

THE HOLY CITY COMES DOWN TO THE EARTH 

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall 
be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the 
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog 
and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the num- 
ber of whom is as the sand of the sea." Rev. 20:7, 8. 
How then is he loosed for a little season? The wickecf 
dead, whom he has always deceived, are raised to life at 
the close of the thousand years, and the holy city comes 
down from heaven. "And I John saw the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev. 21 :2. 
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of 
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the 
Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward 
the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very 
great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove 
toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And 



Satan Bound a Thousand Years 269 

ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains ; for the valley 
of the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye shall flee, 
like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah 
king of Judah : and the Lord my God shall come, and all 
the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it 
shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not 
day, nor night: but it shall come to pass that at evening 
time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that 
living water shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them 
toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder 
sea: in summer and winter shall it be. And the Lord 
shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there 
be one Lord, and His name one." Zech. 14:4-9. 

THE WICKED DEAD ARE RAISED 

"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thou- 
sand years were finished." Rev. 20:5. "And the sea 
gave up the dead which w T ere in it; and death and hell 
delivered up the dead which were in them." Rev. 20:13. 

Satan has now his last opportunity to undertake the 
overthrow^ of the kingdom of God. He marshals all his 
forces for the final conflict. "And they went up on the 
breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the 
saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down 
from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 
20:9. The camp of the saints is not overthrown, but 
fire comes down from God out of heaven, and destroys 
the wicked. The once mighty angels of heaven, which 
had led in a great rebellion against the government of 
God, go down in ignominious defeat with all who had 
chosen to continue in sin. 

THE EARTH MADE NEW 

Let the words of Peter sum up and fix the 
lesson of this awful day in the mind of every reader 



270 The Kingdom of God 

Let us not rest with the mind fixed alone upon that day 
of fearful retribution, but attentively heed the instruc- 
tion that we may escape from its terrors, and stand with 
the righteous in the earth made new. 

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall 
be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be 
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all 
holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting 
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens 
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to 
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, 
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye 
may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blame- 
less." 2 Pet. 3:10-14. Only impenitent sinners are over- 
taken by the day of destruction as a thief, the righteous 
are prepared and escape it. 1 Thess. 5 13, 4. 

THE FINAL DESTRUCTION QF ALL THE WICKED 

John says: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him 
that sat on it, .from whose face the earth and the heaven 
fled away ; and there was found no place for them. And I 
saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and 
the books were opened: and another book was opened, 
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out 
of those things which were written in the books, accord- 
ing to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which 
were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead 
which were in them: and they were judged every man 
according to their works. And death and hell were cast 
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And 
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was 
cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:11-15. 



Satan Bound a Thousand Years 1*1 1 

The earth will be entirely freed from the curse by the 
fire which destnws Satan and sinners, it will henceforth 
stand forth in its original glory, and the saints will then 
reign with Christ eternally. Their reign with Him in 
heaven is limited to a thousand years. After that, they 
have restored to them man's original dominion, and in 
it they will reign with Christ. Ps. 37:9-11; Matt. 5:5. 



PART X 

UNIVERSAL LOYALTY RESTORED 

CHAPTER XXXI 

The Coronation 

CINCE the days of Adam, loyal children of the king- 
dom of God, surrounded by sin, with its darkness and 
gloom, have looked, longed and hoped for the breaking of 
the long promised day when the "seed of the woman" 
shall have bruised "the serpent's head" and entirely de- 
stroyed him. That hope, radiant as the bow of promise, 
more glorious than the morning star, has strengthened 
their faith, and, anchored beyond the woes and storms of 
life, it has led them to grasp the holy splendors of eternity. 
Standing upon the threshold of this transcendent theme, 
which means the closing of earth's long dreary conflict, 
and the coronation of earth's rightful King, language 
cannot express the feelings, imagination cannot picture, 
the reward of the church militant as she steps upon the 
shores of the land of promise and becomes the church 
triumphant. With what ecstasy of delight will the last 
waiting, watching remnant of the church militant burst 
into songs of unalloyed praise as it sees the passing of the 
last token which assures it of the immediate return of its 
long promised King! 

"O for a thousand tongues to sing 
My great Redeemer's praise! 
The glories of my God and King, 
The triumphs of His grace." 
272 



The Coronation 273 



A JUST RULER 

For ages the world has witnessed royalty ruling by 
might. Christ rules by love. Haughty kings have laughed, 
to scorn weary pilgrims toiling mid winter's cold and 
summer's heat to restore the lost to the kingdom of God. 
During all of their conflicts they have "run with patience 
the race that was set before" them, looking unto Jesus 
the Author and Finisher of their faith; "Who for the 
joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising 
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
throne of God. For consider Him that endureth such 
contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied 
and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto 
blood, striving against sin." Heb. 12:1-4. 

Christ's crucifixion was the tragedy of the universe. 
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took 
counsel together, against the Lord, and against His 
anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and 
cast away their cords from us. Ps. 2:2, 3. "This is the 
heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be 
ours." Mark 12:7. 

"Jerusalem was the chosen place where the name of 
the Lord rested. It was 'the city of the Great King.' In 
her streets had been shed the blood of holy prophets. 
Martyrs had often fallen there, sacrifices to the fury of 
apostates and carnally mad men. There was the chosen 
spot for redemption's offering to be made. Her hills, 
which had witnessed the manifestations of God's power 
and glory, must witness the awful manifestation of God 
in humility and sorrow. No mortal ever manifested such 
humility. No man ever felt such sorrow and anguish. 

"The people were, for once, in general union. Herod 
and Pilate became one in action. Pharisees and Sadducees 
dropped their old enmity to each other. The mad cry 
against Jesus arose from the vast multitude. Nothing 



274 The Kingdom of God 

could be heard but the shrill and fiendish cry, 'Away with 
Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!' It was the great 
hour of earth's insanity. That indescribable madness was 
honored as reason. Sentence was passed against Jesus. 
All faces were turned towards Calvary. Praetorian sol- 
diers formed the escort-guard. The procession which fol- 
lowed let no man attempt to describe! Jesus bore His 
cross. He fainted under the load. Behold the derision 
of the mad multitude! They take it, and compel an old 
Cyrenian to bear it to Calvary. They crucified Him 
there. They threw up the cross. As Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, so Jesus was lifted up. Roman 
soldiers did the work. They stood as guards around the 
cross. Priests derided. Thieves railed. Jews mocked. 
Romans jeered. Disciples beheld afar off. Women wept. 
The heavens were shaded with nightly darkness. Earth 
quaked to her center. A cry of supplication and pity 
arose from the cross! Another cry, of agony! Jesus 
died." — "Jesus in His Offices" pages 371, 372, by A. G. 
Comings. 

The confederacy of Church and State while pretending 
to adore had crucified their Lord. Satan and his angels, 
at whose instigation all this untold agony was caused, held 
high carnival around the cross. They had apparently 
triumphed. The King was in their power. Christ hav- 
ing meekly said: "This is your hour and the power of 
darkness," "like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened 
He not His mouth." Acts 8 132. "When He was reviled, 
reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; 
but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." 
Crowned with thorns as king in mockery, He prayed for 
forgiveness for His persecutors. 

But the time for the coronation foretold when the 
crown was removed from Israel's last king, will come. 
"Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and 
take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him 
that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, 



The Coronation 275 

overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He 
come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Ezek. 
21 126, 27. 

It will require no federation of churches and kingdoms 
to crown that worthy King. He that sitteth in the heav- 
ens, Who can bring kingship out of crucifixion, will with 
His own loving hand place the crown of glory upon that 
thorn-crowned head, and kingdoms and federations which 
have sought to crown Him before the time shall be dashed 
to pieces like unyielding pottery fitted to destruction. 
Dan. 2:34, 35- 

THE MANNER OF HIS KINGDOM 

Just before the transfiguration, Jesus promised His dis- 
ciples: "There be some standing here, which shall not 
taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in 
His kingdom." Matt. 16:28. "And after six days Jesus 
taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth 
them up into an high mountain apart, and was trans- 
figured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, 
and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, 
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with 
Him." Matt. 17:1-3. "And His raiment became shin- 
ing, exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller on earth can 
white them." Mark 9:3. 

This transfiguration scene illustrates the manner of 
Christ's kingdom. It is not a kingdom adapted to this 
sin-cursed earth. It is a kingdom of heavenly glory. Peter 
confirms this view, saying: "F01 we have not followed 
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you 
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 
were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from 
God the Father honor and glory, when there came such 
a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice 
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with 



276 The Kingdom of God 

Him in the holy mount." 2 Peter 1 : 16-18. The glorious 
majesty of such a kingdom is not established by federated 
earthly councils, but by the almighty power of the King 
eternal. 



THE TERRITORY OF CHRIST S KINGDOM 

Christ is the second Adam. He came to seek and to 
save that which was lost in the fall of the first Adam. In 
the fall the original dominion of the earth was lost to 
man. It is to be restored to Christ. It is His "pur- 
chased possession." "And Thou, O tower of the flock, 
the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall 
it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come 
to the daughter of Jerusalem." Micah 4:8. "For the 
promise, that He should be the heir of the world, was not 
to Abraham, or to his seed (Christ — Gal. 3:29), through 
the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. 
4:13. Yes, the original kingdom will be restored with all 
its original purity, power and glory, to Him whose it is 
by right, and He will be crowned its King. 

THE CORONATION SCENE 

It was a scene of grandeur when Napoleon Bonaparte 
crowned himself Emperor of France, and when His 
Majesty, King George V, and Her Majesty, Queen 
Mary, were crowned in London, June, 191 1. It will be 
an infinitely greater and more glorious scene when Christ 
is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, and comes in 
the glory of His Father and all the holy angels to redeem 
His people. 

The coronation does not take place upon earth, it takes 
place before the throne of God in the heavenly kingdom. 
"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient 
of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and 
the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was 



The Coronation 277 

like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A 
fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: 
thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment 
was set, and the books were opened." "I saw in the 
night visions, and, behold, One like the Son of man came 
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of 
days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there 
was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that 
all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him : His 
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and His kingdom that which shall not be de- 
stroyed." Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14. The investigative judg- 
ment has decided whether the invited guests are robed 
in the wedding garments provided by the King. Matt. 
22:11-14. The wedding garment is the righteousness of 
Christ provided for His people. When the last invitation 
has been thrice extended the inspection work of judgment 
closes. And, witnessed by all the loyal subjects of the 
heavenly kingdom, God the Father places upon the head 
of His dear Son a diadem more rare and more magnifi- 
cent than earthly wealth and glory give any basis for 
comparison. On earth He bowed beneath a cross with 
the dignity of a king. In heaven He bows to receive a 
crown with the humility of a servant. "A scepter of 
righteousness" marks Him evermore as "King of right- 
eousness." 



CHAPTER XXXII 

The Marriage Supper 

Tf OR centuries Christ has heard His church pray, "Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in 
heaven." As the Bridegroom has seemed to tarry they 
have clung to the loving message left for their encourage- 
ment: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights 
burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for 
their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that 
when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him 
immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord 
when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, 
that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down 
to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Luke 
!2:35-37. Creation groans awaiting redemption. The 
bride, the heavenly Jerusalem, longs for the presence of 
the Bridegroom. Rev. 21 :g, 10. "The flock longs to see 
that great Shepherd of the sheep. The exile sighs to be 
at home, and the pilgrim pants to gain his rest. The sol- 
dier prays for the hour of final victory, when the Cap- 
tain of their salvation shall appear wearing his many 
crowns. The sick and the dying long for the presence of 
the great Physician who healeth all our diseases. Those 
who sleep in the dust of the earth are still resting in 
hope and waiting all the days of their appointed time un- 
til their change shall come. And wearied humanity 
throughout the world longs and prays for that rest which 
God alone can give. 

"Such are the things to which the church is looking 
forward, — the coming of the Lord, the reign of peace 

278 



The Marriage Supper 279 

upon the earth, the beginning of eternal and universal 
blessing throughout the world, the glad and holy day 
when God shall be all in all, the time of rest, of quietude, 
of joyful, endless peacefulness, when the Prince of peace 
shall reign." 

The glorified King now descends. All the angelic 
throng attend their triumphant Monarch. "Our God 
shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour 
before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about 
Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the 
earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints 
together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with 
Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His right- 
eousness: for God is judge Himself." Ps. 50:3-6. The 
men who had confederated to establish His kingdom by 
force, now learn in dismay that their confederacy was 
false. In terror they fly from the presence of Him whom 
they had professed to adore. "And the heaven departed 
as a scroll when it is rolled together ; and every mountain 
and island were moved out of their places. And the kings 
of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and 
the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond- 
man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and 
in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains 
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him 
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb : for the great day of His wrath is come ; and who 
shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:14-17. 

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and 
the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the 
chaff of the summer threshing floors ; and the wind carried 
them away, that no place was found for them: and the 
stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and 
filled the whole earth." Dan. 2:35. "And the seventh 
angel sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven, 
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
doms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign 



280 The Kingdom of God 

for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which 
sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and 
worshiped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord 
God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; 
because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and 
hast reigned." Rev. 11:15-17. 

The judgment which decides who are to be robed in 
the righteousness of Christ is by the law of the king-, 
dom as proclaimed from Sinai, and placed in the sacred 
ark of the covenant. Rev. 11:15-19. The judgment 
past, those not thus robed are cast into outer darkness. 
Matt. 22:2-14. 

The judgment past, the waiting church, keeping the 
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, robed in 
wedding garments for the marriage supper, raises the ex- 
ultant cry: "He will swallow up death in victory; and 
the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; 
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from 
off all the earth : for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall 
be said in that day, Lo, this is our God ; we have waited 
for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have 
waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His sal- 
vation." "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation 
which keepeth the truth may enter in." Isa. 25:8, 9; 
26:2. 

The Lord responds: "Thy dead men shall live, to- 
gether with My dead body shall they arise. Awake and 
sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of 
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Verse 19. 
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears 
of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man 
leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in 
the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the 
desert." "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, 
and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon 
their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sor- 
row and sighing shall flee away." Isa. 35 :5, 6, 10. "Who 



The Marriage Supper 281 

shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or who shall stand 
in His holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure 
heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor 
sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from 
the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salva- 
tion." "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift 
up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall 
come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong 
and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your 
heads, O ye gates ; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors ; 
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King 
of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory." 
Ps. 24:3-5, 7-10. 

As the bridal party enters the holy city, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, "A voice" comes "out of the throne, saying, 
Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear 
Him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the 
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 
Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us 
be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made her- 
self ready. And to her was granted that she should be 
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is 
the righteousness of saints. And He saith unto me, 
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These 
are the true sayings of God." Rev. 19:5-9. 

It will be a touching scene when Christ, the second 
Adam, to whom the first dominion is restored, shall meet 
the first Adam, by whom the dominion was lost, and con- 
duct him back to paradise restored. There he shall look 
upon the same garden in which he first walked in sinless 
purity, and pluck the fruit from the same vines that his 
hands had trained; and eat the fruit of the tree of life, 
from which he was shut away by a flaming sword in 
cherubim hands. He may now eat and live for ever. He 



282 The Kingdom of God 

casts his crown at the feet of his Redeemer and leads 
in redemption's song; and as of old the morning stars 
sing together and all the sons of God shout for joy. "And 
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that 
are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Rev. 

5:i3. 

Thus the one lost sheep is found and returned to the 
fold amid great rejoicing. The kingdom as originally es- 
tablished, invaded for a time, is restored from invasion. 
The festive board is spread, the marriage supper of the 
Lamb takes place. The reign of sin has ended, and the 
kingdom is established for ever. 

During the marriage feast Christ gathers the redeemed 
of earth around the festal board while as their servant 
He presides. He drinks anew with them the cup of 
promise in His Father's kingdom. A thousand years of 
marriage festivities roll by as a passing earthly day, while 
heaven lavishes upon earth's weary pilgrims its best in 
royal welcome into the joys of their Lord and King. 

"From desert waste, from cities full, 
From dungeons dark, they've come; 
And now to claim the mansions fair, 
They've found their long-sought home." 

Touring from world to world, the bridal party join all 
worlds in heralding the praises of their newly crowned 
King. Out of seeming defeat there has come eternal vic- 
tory. Out of loss there has come gain. The love of 
Christ in redemption has been manifested as it was im- 
possible to reveal it in creation. Dying that the lost 
might live, He has bound the universe in one common 
bond of brotherhood of love, as inseparable as the God- 
head itself. The long dark dreary night of earth's gloom, 
during its invasion by sin, has caused it to become more 



The Marriage Supper 283 

glorious through the tears and agonies of Gethsemane, 
and the incomparable sacrifice of Calvary, which have 
consecrated it as the central dominion of honor and glory 
in the universal kingdom of God throughout eternity. 
Christ having been faithful in restoring that dominion 
which was least, reigns King of kings and Lord of lords 
with His name exalted above every name in the universe 
of God. 

Bedecked in jewels of surpassing splendor, in the full- 
ness of glory of the Ancient of days, the heavenly 
Jerusalem descending becomes the metropolis of the 
earthly dominion. Rev. 21:2, 10, 11. The once mortal 
bodies of redeemed saints are now fashioned like unto 
Christ's glorious body, and adorn the palaces of the New 
Jerusalem as ornaments adorn a bride appareled for her 
husband. Death has been swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor. 
I 5 : 53 J 54- The kingship lost in Adam has been restored 
in Christ. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

The Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Eternally 
Restored 

COME have been repelled with the thought of an 
eternity in such a heaven as they have seen pictured. 
Eternity is a long period. How shall we use it? It will 
be filled with a life of love, increasing knowledge and 
unbounded service. Along these three lines of real life 
we shall ever find the utmost joy. Eternity will be con- 
tinually revealing the infinite depths of divine love, and 
the love of all of our associates. We never tire of the 
love and devotion of a loving mother, a faithful com- 
panion, or a dutiful child. In like manner we shall never 
grow weary of the loving associations of God and His 
delightful family whose chief joy is to "in love serve 
one another." 

"An angel's wing would droop if long at rest, 
And God Himself, inactive, were no longer blest." 

When the New Jerusalem descends Christ will not 
come to proclaim His law from Zion and the word of 
the Lord from Jerusalem. This He did of old from 
Sinai; and again from Jerusalem, in the days of His hu- 
miliation when, derided by kings, insulted and abused by a 
world He would die to save, and rejected in scorn by a 
church He came to redeem; He established the new 
covenant with Israel, promising to put His law in their 
hearts, to forgive their iniquities, and to remember their 
sins no more. 

284 



Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Restored 285 

He now comes to execute judgment upon the ungodly, 
according to their treatment of His law and His offered 
pardon, which they have refused. There must first be 
the resurrection of the unholy dead. Acts 24:15. They 
must awake to the shame and the judgment which, dur- 
ing their lives, they have chosen. They that pierced His 
side, smote Him with the reed, platted and placed upon 
His head the crown of thorns, together with Herod and 
Pilate and all nations of all the ages, must meet His 
searching eye as He now sits in Kingly glory as their 
Judge. No falling rocks nor crumbling mountains can 
hide the guilty in that day of final indignation against 
sin. 

The sea must again "unfold its waves, and give up the 
myriads that lie beneath its tidal flow. Rev. 20:13. 
Hades itself, with all its bars and bolts, and cords and 
pains, must yield to the hand of Him, who bears its key, 
and deliver up its dead. Rev. 1:18. All must come 
forth at the summons of the Judge." Death shall be no 
covert, the grave no refuge in that awful day when God 
shall judge the world in righteousness according to their 
works. 

"God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ, 
according to the gospel. Rom. 2:16. All classes will be 
there, all ages will be represented. The dead, small and 
great, shall stand before God and be judged. Rev. 20:12. 
The men of Nineveh, who repented at the preaching of 
Jonah, shall rise up in judgment to confound the men of 
Jerusalem, who did not repent at the preaching of the 
ministers of Jesus Christ. Matt. 12:41. The men who 
ate and drank with Jesus, and in whose streets He taught, 
shall hear Him say at last, 'Depart from Me; I never 
knew you.' Luke 13:26. The Jews who listened to 
His words shall weep and gnash their teeth when they 
see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, 
in the kingdom of God, and they themselves thrust out. 
Luke 13 :28. Felix shall find that the judgment to come, 



286 The Kingdom of God 

at the mention of which he trembled, was no idle tale. 
Acts 24:25. Judas shall learn how much better it had 
been for him if he had not been born. Matt. 26:24. 
And all sinners shall find that it is a fearful thing to 
fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. 10:31. 
None shall be so great that they can defy His judgment, 
so mighty that they can escape His justice. He shall 
judge the world in righteousness. 

"There shall come the solemn and eternal separation 
of the righteous and the wicked. They have been mingled 
together from the beginning, but now they shall mingle 
no more. Cain shall no more slay Abel. The Sodomites 
shall no more vex Lot. Pharaoh shall no more oppress 
Israel. The child of the bondwoman shall no more mock 
the son of the free. Haman shall no more plot against 
Mordecai. Nero shall no more afflict Paul. Herod shall 
no more imprison John. Nations shall no more perse- 
cute Christians, nor shall rulers put them to torture or to 
death. God shall make an eternal severance of these dif- 
ferent classes. He shall thoroughly purge His floor, gar- 
nering His wheat, and burning up the chaff with fire un- 
quenchable. Matt. 3:12. Saints shall return, and dis- 
cern between the righteous and the wicked, between him 
that serveth God and him that serveth Him not, for the 
day that cometh shall burn the wicked up; while on the 
servants of the Lord shall rise the healing beams of the 
Sun of Righteousness. Mai. 41 :i, 2." — H. L. Hastings. 

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for 
them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the 
rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with 
joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto 
it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see 
the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. 
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble 
knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, 
fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, 
even God with a recompense; He will come and save 



Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Restored 287 

you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame 
man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: 
for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams 
in the desert." "And an highway shall be there, and a 
way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the un- 
clean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the 
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No 
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up 
thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed 
shall walk there." Isa. 35 :i-6, 8, 9. 

"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath sur- 
prised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with 
the devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with ever- 
lasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and 
speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppres- 
sions, that shaketh his hands from holding bribes 
that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shut- 
teth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: 
his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread 
shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes 
shall see the king in His beauty: they shall behold the 
land that is very far off." "Look upon Zion, the city of 
our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet 
habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; 
not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither 
shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the 
glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and 
streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither 
shall gallant ship pass thereby." "And the inhabitant 
shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein 
shall be forgiven their iniquity." Isa. 33:14-17, 20, 21, 

24. 

'Then shall God rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in His 
people. And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard 
in her, nor the voice of crying." Isa. 65:19. "And the 
Lord shall be King over all the earth." Zech. 14:9. 



288 The Kingdom of God 

"This earth where Christ has been a homeless outcast, a 
despised wanderer, and has met a felon's doom — shall 
yet shine forth, redeemed, purged, glorified, and arrayed 
in everlasting splendor, as the center of divine dominion." 
Rev. 21:22. "And the city had no need of the sun, 
neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God 
did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And 
the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the 
light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their 
glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not 
be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 
And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations 
into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 
or maketh a lie : but they which are written in the Lamb's 
book of life." Verses 23-27. "Violence shall no more 
be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy 
borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy 
gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by 
day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto 
thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, 
and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord 
shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourn- 
ing shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous : 
they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My 
planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified." 
Isa. 60:18-21. "Moreover, the light of the moon shall 
be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall 
be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that 
the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and heal- 
eth the stroke of their wound." Isa. 30:26. "Then the 
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the 
Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusa- 
lem, and before His ancients gloriously." Isa. 24:23. 
"The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and 
the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of 



Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Restored 289 

Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and 
the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity 
are cut off: that make a man an offender for a word, 
and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and 
turn aside the just for a thing of nought." Isa. 29:19-21. 
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young 
lion and the fading together ; and a little child shall lead 
them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young 
ones shall lie down together : and the lion shall eat straw 
like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole 
of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. 
1 1 :6-9. 

THE DOMINION OF THE TWO ADAMS COMPARED 

"God's word declares the end from the beginning. It 
is not only the chart which guides each weary wanderer 
to his eternal rest, but it is the record of the great plan 
and purpose of the Almighty concerning the world which 
He has made and the church which He has redeemed. 
It unfolds God's everlasting purpose, as manifested in 
Jesus Christ; and if one will read three chapters at the 
beginning of the Bible and three at the end, he will be 
struck with the correspondence which there exists. 

"At the beginning of the Bible we find a new world: 
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' 
At the end of the Bible we find a new world: 'I saw a 
new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the 
first earth were passed away.' At the beginning, we find 
Satan entering to deceive and destroy; at the end, we 
find Satan cast out, 'that he should deceive the nations no 
more.' At the beginning, sin and pain and sorrow and 
sighing and death find entrance to the world ; at the end, 



290 The Kingdom of God 

there shall be no more pain nor sorrow, no sighing and no 
more death. At the beginning, the earth, for man's trans- 
gression is cursed with thorns and thistles; at the end, 
'there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and 
of the Lamb shall be in it.' At the beginning, we find 
the tree of life in Paradise, from which the sinner is shut 
out by a flaming sword, lest he eat and live for ever; at 
the end, we find the tree of life again, 'in the midst of 
the Paradise of God,' and the blessed, and the blood- 
washed ones have a right to the tree of life, and 'enter in 
through the gates into the city.' At the beginning, man 
was beneath the dominion of death and the grave; at the 
end 'the dead, small and great, stand before God,' the sea 
gives up its dead, and death and hell are destroyed in the 
lake of fire. At the beginning, the first Adam lost his 
dominion over the earth, and was driven out of the gar- 
den of Eden in shame and sorrow; at the end, we find 
the second Adam victorious over sin and death and hell, 
enthroned as King and Lord of all, and reigning in 
triumph and glory for ever." 

"Thus shall this city shine forth in all the glory of 
divine adornment as the home of the saints. Men shall 
come from earthly wanderings to celestial homes; from 
dens and prisons here to joys and mansions there; out 
from iron doors and in through pearly gates; — and feet 
that woke the dull echoes of the gloomy dungeon's floor 
shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem! Hands that 
clanked their chains with slow and tedious move shall 
strike the instruments of heavenly melody, and wake the 
harp-notes of enduring joy. Brows once crowned with 
thorns and grimed with smoke and burning, shall grow 
smooth, and fair, and royal, beneath the crowns that never 
fade. Sackcloth shall be exchanged for fine linen, clean 
and white; and, gazing on the least of all the gathered 
throng, we may say, 'Solomon in all his glory was not 
arrayed like one of these.' Matt. 6 :20. 

"Here is the palace of angels and of God. Here stands 



Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Restored 291 

the throne of God and the Lamb. Rev. 22 :3. Here shall 
the nations of the saved walk lovingly and peacefully 
in the calm, still light that beams through jasper walls 
and radiant palaces. Rev. 21 :24. All shall be pure and 
bright and blessed; for the tabernacle of God shall be 
with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall 
be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, — 
their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sor- 
row, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, 
for the former things shall be done away. Rev. 21 13, 4. 
'And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all 
things new.' 

"Glorious shall be that city, the new metropolis of the 
established kingdom of God. And as Israel's sons, return- 
ing to their own land to dwell for ever, shall join them- 
selves with ties of love and vows of attachment to its soil, 
and call their land married, so shall Jesus, taking this as 
His eternal residence, consecrate it as the bride, the wife 
of the Lamb. Isa. 62:4, 5; Rev. 19:7, 8. 

"And all this glorious garniture of gates of pearl, and 
streets and buildings of transparent gold, and walls of 
jasper, and foundations of amethysts, and chrysolites, and 
emeralds and gems set by the cunning of its divine Archi- 
tect, shall abide and adorn the home of the saints, the city 
of their glory, the palace of their King, the dwelling of 
their God. Blessed city of nightless day and tearless joy, 
where enemies never come, and whence friends never de- 
part; city expected by Chaldean patriarchs, and foretold 
by Hebrew prophets; seen in the visions of God on Pat- 
mos, and by the eye of faith in all ages and in all lands ; — 
we hail thy coming, and welcome thee as our endless 
home, — the peaceful Paradise of God." — H. L. Hastings. 

"Behold the promised golden throne, — 
The conquering palm, — the unfading crown; 
And, more than all, that beaming eye 
Whose glance is love and ecstasy! 



292 The Kingdom of God 

But, lo! what sudden splendors beaming 
O'er heaven's illumined arch are streaming, 
What hues of varied beauty blending, 
What fair celestial towers descending! 
O, Salem! City of our God! 
The saints' — the martyrs' blest abode! 
I see thy gates of pearl unfold, 
I see thy streets of burnished gold, 
I see thy towers in crystal shine, 
Meet temple for a King divine. 
Hail ! perfect, pure, in virgin pride, 
The mighty Lamb's resplendent bride! 
Within thy hallowed courts are found 
No lurking foes to vex or wound; 
No dim eye sheds the hopeless tear, 
No bosom throbs with doubt or fear; 
And hushed is shame's tumultuous thrill, 
And passion's warring storm is still. 
No bright sun beams by day; by night 
No pale moon sheds her feeble light: 
But from the throne of living fire 
Where sits revealed the eternal Sire, 
Where seraphs raise their loudest strain, 
To hail the Lamb that once was slain, 
Though Faith and Hope have passed away, 
Love sheds a pure, unchanging ray: 
What faintly shone on earth before, 
Now beams and burns forevermore." 



ETERNAL PEACE AND UNITY INSURED 

What assurance have we that this condition of unity 
and peace and glory will be eternal? May we not rea- 
sonably fear another invasion? And may not all of our 
toil yet be in vain, our sacrifices to obtain the inheritance 
fruitless, and our period of joy and gladness temporary? 
Let the apostle Peter answer. "Nevertheless we, accord- 
ing to His promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13. 
"His promise* is the basis of our confidence. "All the 
promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, 
unto the glory of God by us." 2 Cor. 1 120. "What He 



Peace and Unity of the Kingdom Restored 293 

has promised, He is able to perform," and there is nothing 
"too hard for the Lord." In what instance has His word 
of promise failed? 

He promised to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, 
and He delivered them. He promised to raise up Christ 
as the Saviour of a fallen race, of the seed of Abraham 
and David, and He raised Him up. He promised to ut- 
terly destroy the Amalekites and to disperse Israel 
throughout the nations, and His promise failed not. He 
promised a new heart to every believer under the new 
covenant, and millions have witnessed to the fulfillment 
of His word. He promised to destroy the wicked cities 
of the plains, and the salt waters of the Dead Sea testify 
to the fulfillment of that prediction. He promised to de- 
stroy the antediluvians for their wickedness and save be- 
lievers in the ark. Unbelievers were destroyed and be- 
lievers were rewarded according to the promise. By the 
same word, beyond the judgment day, He has promised 
the destruction of all ungodly men, with Satan and all 
invaders of His kingdom. 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Thess. 1 :g ; Rev. 
20:7-15. That promise is as secure as the throne of God. 
Furthermore, He has declared that affliction shall not rise 
up the second time. Nahum 1 :g. "Wherefore the 
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and 
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never 
fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and' 
Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:10, 11. We can 
therefore say with Joshua of old as the basis of our con- 
fidence: "And ye know in all your hearts and in all your 
souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things 
which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are 
come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed 
thereof." Joshua 23:14. 

Having been purified, made white and tried (Dan. 
12:10), and all perfectly united in the bonds of love 
and peace through Christ the Prince of peace (Eph. 



294 The Kingdom of God 

1:10), the kingdom, originally established with the un- 
tried, is now established upon the basis of eternal security 
in Christ our "surety." 

The reign of sin has ended, eternal righteousness has 
been established, through the sacrifice of God in Christ. 
Henceforth, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on 
the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." 
Rev. 5:13. 






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